The Heartland Witch
by Count Morningstar
Summary: Part 2 of the Devil Numbers Trilogy. An enemy comes and casts a spell over all of Heartland to make Kotori and Yuma forget about one another. But when Kotori gains the Emperor's Key and Utopia, she fights on to save Yuma from a fate worse than death. Meanwhile, Kaito and Droite deal with the nature of their unborn child. Rated M for good reason.
1. The New Normal

**Introduction:** For those of you who have yet to read my previous ZEXAL stories, _Vampire Papillon_ and _Barians vs. Psychics_, I suggest you go back and read those. Otherwise you might be a tad confused by what's going to happen in this story. For those of you who have read those two stories, I'm sure you've been looking forward to this next tale. When I worked on BVP, I was asked in a few reviews about if Yuma and Kotori were going to get a "love scene" in that story. Obviously, that didn't happen. The reason for that is because such a potential scene is going to play a central role in this story, but I fear that I've now said too much. And so, on with the story.

**Disclaimer:** I do not own Yu-Gi-Oh! ZEXAL.

* * *

Chapter 1: The New Normal

_It was the dead of night as she walked barefoot through a vast grassy field. The only thing she had on was a flowing white dress with thin straps. Where she was going, she could not say. Nor could she remember how she had even gotten to that field or where she was, but she pressed on because of some unknown desire. The only source of light she had was that of the starry sky above. After an uncertain amount of time though, she could make out an orange light in the distance. She headed towards the light, feeling that it was where she needed to be._

_It was not until she could make out that the light in question was a large bonfire of some kind. As she got closer, she could hear the sound of women chanting in some odd language. Instinctively, she hastened her pace towards the fire, thinking that something terrible was about to happen. When she finally came near, she froze at the strange scene that was now before her. Around the fire on their knees were three young women, each of who was wearing a black hooded robe. It was these three who were the source of the odd chanting._

_Just to the side of the fire she saw a large vertical stone alter that had a young man chained to it. He had a tan complexion and short black hair with odd red points at three spots around his face. For some reason she felt she knew who the young man was, yet try as she could, she could just not place him. Even his name seemed to escape her. The young man was shirtless, and painted on his chest was an odd black symbol in the form of a single line that split into two curved lines at the top like the top of a heart, and beneath each curve was a dot above an a small almost diamond-shaped mark._

_Standing in front of the young man chained to the stone alter was another young woman wearing a black hooded robe. Her hood was down though, revealing that she had short red hair and bewitching golden eyes. The young woman soon removed her robe though to reveal that she was completely naked. Suddenly there was a flash of blue light that had made the girl watching this scene look up. Floating above was a figure made of blue light, though his body was crackling with black electricity and his color alternated from blue to red. The girl felt like this figure was familiar to her, but like the young man she couldn't place him. Whoever this being of light though looked as though he was in great pain._

_"Kotori…" the being of light spoke to the girl. "Help… Yu…"_

_It was hard for the girl to make out what the poor creature was saying. Meanwhile, the girl saw the redhead gave her an evil and triumphant smirk. Suddenly to the girl's horror, the redhead plunged her hand into the young man's chest to tear out his heart._

* * *

Kotori Mezuki's eyes quickly snapped open. The sixteen-year-old sat up to look at her alarm and saw that it was only five minutes before it was set to go off. Kotori had always hated when that sort of thing happened, but after the dream she had just had, she knew there was no chance in hell that she was going to be able to get back to sleep anyway. Kotori made a move to shut off the alarm to prevent the unnecessary and annoying siren that was to come, but when she did she noticed something clutched in her hand. It was a small gold almost arrowhead-like pendant that had a green gem at the top and looked almost like some sort of key.

Kotori tried to remember where she had gotten the key, but like the young man and the figure of light from her dream, she could not place the pendant's identity. Whatever it was though, Kotori felt that the key was a very important piece of jewelry. It obviously had to be if she had gone to bed with it clutched in her hand. With a shrug, Kotori put the key on her nightstand and proceeded to get dressed. After the green-haired girl finished putting on her uniform, she went over to her mirror to make sure that her hair was done just the way she wanted it to be.

Just as Kotori was about to head downstairs for breakfast, her attention was drawn back to the strange key she had left on her nightstand. For some reason, she couldn't shake that the key was somehow very important. Kotori went back over to the nightstand and put the key on around her neck as she headed downstairs. Then after a quick breakfast she was out the door to school. The sky above was grey and overcast, so much so that Kotori wondered if she should perhaps have brought her umbrella.

In a few minutes Kotori had reached Heartland Academy. As soon as she arrived, she looked around as though she were expecting someone, though for the life of her she couldn't figure out who it was. It just felt as though there was someone who was supposed to be there, someone important. After a moment though, Kotori brushed it off and headed down the hall to her classroom. When she turned the corner though, she suddenly bumped into someone and nearly fell down.

Kotori looked to see who it was and saw that it was the same young man from her dream. He appeared to be about the same age that she was.

"Um, sorry 'bout that." The young man told her. "Guess I wasn't really paying attention to where I was going."

"Oh, it's fine." Kotori assured him. "I'm the one who wasn't paying attention. I guess I've sort of been out of it this morning."

"Hey, do I know you from somewhere?" the young man asked. "You seem kinda familiar."

"Yeah, I kind of have the same feeling." Kotori admitted. "I'm Kotori, Kotori Mezuki."

"Yuma Tsukumo." The young man replied, shaking Kotori's hand.

"Hey Yuma! Get your butt in gear!" a voice called form down the hall. "We're gonna be late!"

"Coming, Tetsuo!" Yuma called back. He then turned back to Kotori. "Well, looks like I gotta go. It was nice meeting you."

Kotori kept her eyes on Yuma as he walked off. Just as she was about to head for class as well she heard a commotion behind her. Kotori turned around and quickly determined the cause. Several students had moved to make way for a young woman of about sixteen who Kotori knew by name as Samantha Warren. Samantha was an exchange student who had started attending Heartland Academy over three months ago, and in a very short time she had become known as the most popular girl at school. She had a sort of strange magnetism that was amplified by her good looks. Samantha had short red hair and bewitching golden eyes, along with a dynamite figure that most girls her age would kill to have.

Samantha was usually seen walking the halls of Heartland Academy either alone or with the small group of girls that she had made her inner circle. But alone or not, practically everyone made way for Samantha when they saw her coming. At that moment though, Kotori felt something very threatening about Samantha. Then it occurred to her that Samantha happened to look like the redhead from her dream, the one that was about to tear the heart out of Yuma's chest. Kotori decided that it would be better to avoid Samantha and proceeded towards the classroom.

"Excuse me." Samantha spoke, causing Kotori to freeze. "Do you have a minute?"

Kotori turned around and saw Samantha walk towards her. "Um, can I help you with something?"

"You're name's Mezuki, right?" Samantha asked. "Kotori Mezuki?"

"That's right." Kotori confirmed. "Is there something I can help you with, Samantha?"

"Oh please, there's no need to call me Samantha." The redhead told her. "That name's always been kind of stuffy to me. Call me Sammy."

"Um, okay." Kotori replied. "So what do you want?"

"Relax, I just wanted to ask you if you dueled." Samantha explained with a friendly smile. "I'm kind of in the mood for having a duel later today and I wanted to see if you could be my opponent."

"Well, I do duel a little." Kotori admitted. "I'm still sort of a beginner though. I didn't really start playing until a couple of months ago."

"That's quite alright." Samantha assured her. "All I'm asking for is a friendly game. It's not like this would be a major tournament duel or anything like that. So, are you up for it then?"

"Well, why are you asking me?" Kotori asked.

"I just thought this would be a good chance for us to get to know one another." Samantha answered. "I've seen you in the hall several times now and have always wanted to get to know you. I decided today that a duel would be the perfect way to do that."

"Oh, well in that case, why not?" Kotori agreed.

"Super! Meet me in the gym after lunch." Samantha told her. "I'll be waiting for ya."

With that, Samantha walked off. As Samantha left, Kotori couldn't help but feel like there was some kind of malicious intent behind the redhead's golden eyes. Before Kotori had a chance to dwell on the feeling of danger she seemed to get from Samantha, the bell rang to signal that classes were about to begin. With that, Kotori put her encounter with Samantha out of her mind and hurried to class. When she got to the classroom and sat down in her usual seat, Kotori looked at the girl who usually sat next to her and was suddenly hit by a feeling that told her that the girl was not supposed to be in that seat, even though Kotori knew very well that the girl had occupied that seat from the very beginning of her time at Heartland Academy.

Outside the classroom window, rain had started to come down. Kotori found herself gazing out the window instead of listening to the lecture that the teacher was in the process of giving. For one thing, she could not get her mind off of Yuma. Even though she had only just briefly met the young man that morning, he seemed to almost completely dominate her thought. Kotori felt that she knew Yuma somehow, and not just from a dream. In fact she felt that the young man was somehow very important to her.

While Yuma was the primary focus of her thoughts though, Kotori's mind was also occupied by an unshakable feeling that things were not as they were supposed to be. It was almost as though she had woken up in someone else's life. Yet at the same time, Kotori knew that thing were always the way they had been. It was just another ordinary day for her. At last the bell rang and Kotori headed for lunch. When lunch was finished, she went to the gym and found Samantha waiting for her alone.

"Glad you showed up." Samantha told her. "You still up for this?"

"Actually, I think a duel would help me take my mind off things." Kotori admitted. "I've been having kind of an off day today."

"Well then. Let's get this started." Samantha decided.

Kotori and Samantha both put on their D-Gazers. As soon as they activated their duel disks, the color of the gym changed slightly.

"I gotta say Kotori, that pink dueling gear of yours is cute!" Samantha remarked.

"Thanks." Kotori replied. "So are you going first?"

"Oh no, you go right ahead." Samantha told her. "I'm the one who challenged you, so you should get the first turn."

"Okay, well try to go easy on me." Kotori requested as she drew her first card. "I summon Mystical Elf in Defense Mode!"

Appearing on the field was a woman with blue skin and long shimmering blonde hair that was almost like spun gold. She had on light-green robes that showed off her shoulders and a sort of silvery-white crown on her head.

"I set one card on the field and end my turn." Kotori announced.

"Not a bad opening move." Samantha praised. "Shouldn't be too hard to counter though."

As Samantha drew her next card, Kotori couldn't help but shake bad feeling about the redhead. Though Samantha seemed quite friendly, her eyes still seemed to have that same hint of malice that Kotori had noticed before.

"Let's see. To counter your Mytical Elf, I summon Dark Elf in Attack Mode!" Samantha announced.

Appearing on the redhead's side of the battlefield was another elf woman that in many ways was a twin to the elf that Kotori had summoned, but there were also many differences. The new elf's skin was dark instead of blue, and her long hair was a dark-purple instead of a simmering gold color. The crown atop the dark elf's head was gold in contrast two Mystical Elf's silvery-white one.

"Hold on. Dark Elf only has 2000 ATK, the same number as Mystical Elf's DEF." Kotori pointed out. "Plus Dark Elf's effect forces the player to give up 1000 life points in order to attack. If you'd try to attack Mystical Elf, you'd only hurt yourself."

"Right you are, birdy-girl." Samantha replied. "But I've found a way around both the little problems you've mentioned. For my next moth, I activate the Spell card, Forbidden Chalice!"

A silver chalice appeared in Dark Elf's right hand. The elf woman took a sip from the liquid inside and suddenly convulsed and clutched her throat, almost as if she were choking from drinking poison. At the same time, the chalice she was holding dropped from her hand to the ground, causing it to shatter into bits of light. After a moment though, Dark Elf seemed to stop chocking and her body began to glow with a purple aura.

"What just happened?" Kotori asked.

"Any monster that drinks from the Forbidden Chalice gains 400 ATK for the rest of the turn, but as a price they lose whatever effects they might have for the rest of the turn too." Samantha explained. "But since Dark Elf's only effect is that nasty little life point cost, the negative effect of a chalice is a good thing."

"So Dark Elf not only has 2400 ATK, she can also attack without you having to pay any life points." Kotori realized.

"Bingo." Samantha confirmed. "Now then Dark Elf, attack your goody two-shoes counterpart! Enchanting Black Magic!"

Dark Elf thrust her right hand forward and fired a barrage of black lightning bolts from her palm. Mystical Elf was struck by the bolts and was instantly vaporized.

"I activate my Trap, Broken Blocker!" Kotori announced. "When a monster of mine with high DEF is destroyed, I can summon two more copies of that same monster from my deck!" At that, two more Mystical Elves appeared on the battlefield.

"Okay, that's actually kind of annoying." Samantha declared. "Looks like I'm going to have to turn up the heat a little. I activate a Spell card, Hinotama! With this card, I inflict 400 points of damage!"

Several fireballs suddenly came down from above and struck Kotori. The impact and resulting explosions were strong enough to knock Kotori off her feet, as well as drop her life points to 3600. What troubled Kotori even more though was that the pain she seemed to feel from the blast. It was almost as if the fireballs were real. Before Kotori hit the ground, the jewel of the key pendant she had on began to shine and a flash of blue light soon enveloped her.

* * *

_Kotori found herself standing in an endless expanse of pitch-black space. As she looked around to try and figure out where she was, a flash of light appeared before and she saw the same light entity from her dream. Just like in her dream, the being was changing from blue to red and back again as his body seemed to be continually shocked by some kind of black energy._

_The being turned his head and looked at Kotori with pain-filled eyes. "Kotori… please… try to remember… who I am."_

_Kotori looked long and hard at the poor entity and tried to remember his identity. His name seemed to be on the tip of her tongue, and then suddenly as though a bolt of lighting had hit her, she remembered the name._

_"Astral!" Kotori spoke._

_Astral smiled weakly and nodded. "Good. You were able to remember… which means that there is hope. And so… I will entrust this hope to you. Please… save Yuma."_

_Astral stretched his hand toward Kotori and a light in the shape of a card flew from it and hit her in the chest. There was another flash of light and suddenly everything about what was going on became clear._

* * *

Kotori awoke with a gasp and slowly got to her feet. She saw Samantha standing across the battlefield with a triumphant smirk and recognized her for what she truly was. That girl was an enemy, one who had come and somehow changed how everything was supposed to be. She also remembered that Yuma, instead of being some random young man she had never met before, had actually been one of her closest friends for years and had been her boyfriend for just a little over two. And it was Samantha who had made her and seemingly everyone else forget that fact.

"Jeez, birdy-girl. I didn't hit you that hard." Samantha spoke. "I'll set one card on the field and end my turn, and with the end of my turn, Dark Elf's ATK returns to normal. Your move."

"I remember who you are now, Samantha!" Kotori told her.

"Hey, it's Sammy, remember?" the redhead replied. "And what the hell are you talking about?"

"You can stop pretending now." Kotori told her. "I know that this is actually the first time you've ever even set foot in this school, and you've somehow made everyone think you've been here for months as the most popular girl in school. Just like how you somehow made Yuma and me forget each other!"

"I honestly have no idea what you're talking about." Samantha insisted. "You must've hit your head pretty hard in that Hinotama blast."

"If you want to play dumb, fine! But you can't fool me anymore!" Kotori declared as she drew her next card. "Using both level four Mystical Elves, I build the overlay network and Xyz Summon a monster from a very trusted friend! Help me out, Number 39: Utopia!"

"What?" Samantha exclaimed.

A large vortex in the form of a galaxy pulled in both of Kotori's elves as balls of golden energy. Rising out of the vortex a moment later was a large object that looked like an ornate white and gold sword with two balls of golden light orbiting around it. The sword unfolded and took on the shape of a warrior with white armor trimmed with gold. On its head was a helmet with three golden horns, and on its back was a folded pair of white metal wings. In the center of its chest was a green gem similar to the one embedded in the Emperor's Key. Written on the large piece of armor on his left shoulder in red was the number, 39.

"How the hell did you get that card?" a noticeably irritated Samantha asked through gritted teeth.

"That doesn't matter!" Kotori told her. "Now are you going to tell me who you are?"

Samantha sighed. "Okay, fine. I'm Mitaka of the Barian Death Queens."

"So you're with the same group as Anitak?" Kotori asked, instantly recalling the enemy that had gone after Yuma only a week and a half ago.

"That's right, birdy-girl." Samantha confirmed. "Of course my plan to get the Numeron Code is a hell of a lot better than hers was."

"I don't know what you've done, but I'm going to stop you and protect Yuma!" Kotori declared. "Utopia, attack Dark Elf! Hope Sword Slash!"

Utopia grabbed the two swords hanging at his waist and flew forward. With both blades he cut Dark Elf to ribbons. Samantha's life points took a slight drop to 3500.

"Okay then. I activate my Trap, Split Shadow!" Samantha announced. "When a Dark monster of mine is destroyed, I can summon two more copies of the same monster from my deck. So I summon two more Dark Elves!" With that, two new Dark Elves appeared on Samantha's side of the battlefield.

"I set one card on the field and end my turn!" Kotori announced.

Samantha drew her next card. "Guess it's time I stop playing around. I overlay both my Dark Elves to Xyz Summon Dark Elf Queen!"

Another vortex appeared in the middle of the battlefield and pulled Samantha's two elves as balls of purple energy. Rising out of the vortex a moment later was another Dark Elf similar to the original three. Her hair was silver instead of dark-purple. She had on a black dress with long baggy sleeves and a long skirt that was open in the front to reveal a pair of smooth slender legs. Silver armor covered her chest, yet at the same time showed off her cleavage. On the front of her crown was a purple gem in the shape of a shield. Orbiting around the elf queen were two balls of purple light.

"I activate one of Dark Elf Queen's effects!" Samantha announced. "By detaching one of her overlay units, I can take control of one of my opponent's monsters until the end of the turn. And of course the card I choose to take control of is Utopia!"

One of the balls of light orbiting around Dark Elf Queen entered the gem on her crown. The elf queen then blew a kiss to Utopia filled with a strange red powder. Utopia's eyes suddenly began to glow pink and he went over to Samantha's side of the field.

"So now you're going to attack me with both monsters?" Kotori asked.

"I could, but that wouldn't be as fun." Samantha replied. "I activate another effect of Dark Elf Queen! While she has a Dark Elf monster as an overlay unit, I can sacrifice a monster I control and inflict damage to my opponent equal to its ATK! And of course the monster I sacrifice is Utopia!"

Dark Elf Queen plunged her hand into the gem in Utopia's chest, causing the warrior to cry out in pain and several red glowing cracks to appear all over his body. Utopia shattered into bits of red light, and with the same hand she used to kill Utopia, Dark Elf Queen shocked Kotori with a barrage of red lightning bolts. Kotori cried out in pain as her life points dropped to 1100.

"It's all over now." Samantha victoriously declared.

"I… I activate my Trap, Xyz Reborn!" Kotori announced. "With this card, I summon Utopia back from the Graveyard!"

"What?" Samantha exclaimed.

With that, Utopia reappeared on Kotori's side of the battlefield. The Trap card that Kotori had used to revive him became a ball of gold light that was pulled into the warrior's orbit.

"Dammit!" Samantha cursed. "I didn't think you'd be able to summon Utopia back to the Graveyard. At the very least though, I can still cause you some pain. Dark Elf Queen, attack Utopia!"

"I activate…" Kotori began to announce.

"Kotori… wait!" a voice spoke inside Kotori's head. Kotori instantly recognized the voice as Astral's. "Do not use Utoipa's effect! His last overlay unit… must be saved."

On hearing this, Kotori ceased her command. She didn't know why Astral stopped her from using Utopia's effect, but she decided to trust him.

"Black Magic Ruin!" Samantha commanded.

Dark Elf Queen shocked Utopia with an intense blast of black electricity from her hands. Utopia withstood the attack due to his nature as a Number, but Kotori's life points dropped down to a mere 800.

"Guess I'll end my turn there." Samantha decided. "If I were you, birdy-girl, I'd surrender and save myself a whole lot of pain."

"I won't give up! Not until I stop you and keep you from getting to Yuma!" Kotori declared.

"You know he's not worth all the trouble you're going to for him." Samantha told her. "I'm only bothering with him because he's needed to get the Numeron Code. Just give up."

"I will not give up!" Kotori told her. "I never will as long as Yuma's in danger! He protected me during the Number War, and now it looks like my turn to protect him!"

Suddenly a light began to shine from the Extra Deck holder at Kotori's waist, surprising both her and Samantha. Kotori took a quick look inside to see what was giving off the light and found it was a card she knew very well.

"Using Utopia, I rebuild the overlay network and Xyz Summon Number C39: Utopia Ray!" Kotori announced.

Utopia folded back into his sword form and went into another galaxy-like vortex that had appeared in the middle of the field. Rising out of the same vortex a moment later was another large object in the form of an ornate black and gold sword with two golden balls of light orbiting around it. The sword unfolded and changed into a new warrior clad in black armor with gold trim similar to Utopia's original form. His new helmet had a mask-like face with a single horn on the forehead. On his back in between his wings was a large black sword.

"I also summon Gemini Elf in Attack Mode!" Kotori announced.

Appearing next to Utopia Ray was a pair of elf women. One of them had long orange hair and wore a purple mini-dress. The other one, shorter than the redhead, had blonde hair and wore a blue mini-dress with blue elbow-high gloves.

"I activate Utopia Ray's effect!" Kotori announced. "Since I have less then 1000 life points, I can detach Utopia Ray's overlay units and for each one increase his ATK by 500! And at the same time, your Dark Elf Queen loses 1000 ATK for each overlay unit, meaning that she'll only have 800 ATK!"

Both balls of light that were orbiting around Utopia Ray entered the green gem in the center of his chest. Utopia Ray's armor then began to glow white.

"Utopia Ray, attack Dark Elf Queen!" Kotori commanded. "Hope Sword Chaos Slash!"

As Utopia Ray drew the swords hanging at his waist, he also used his mechanical arms to draw the giant sword on his back. The Number warrior flew at Dark Elf Queen and slashed her to pieces using all three swords. Samantha's life points took a steep drop to 800.

"Gemini Elf, attack her directly!" Kotori commanded.

The elf duo dashed forward and struck Samantha in the chest with a double flying kick. Samantha was knocked onto her back and her life points dropped to zero. With the duel at an end, Utopia Ray and the elf duo vanished. Samantha got back to her feet and glared at Kotori.

"You've just opened yourself up to a whole world of pain, bitch." Samantha warned.

Before Kotori could respond, a vortex in the form of a galaxy appeared behind Samantha and pulled her in as particles of light. When the vortex closed, and exhausted Kotori dropped to her knees. She remained like that on the gym floor for several moments, clutching the Emperor's Key hanging from her neck. Kotori needed a moment to try and figure out what was going on. How is it that she had the Emperor's Key? And how had Samantha, or rather Mitaka, made it so that the world had changed?

"Kotori." A familiar voice spoke.

Kotori looked and standing behind her was a woman with orange eyes and a pale complexion. She had dark hair with purple bang and wore a black leather jacket over a purple t-shirt with a white butterfly on the front, along with a short black skirt and black knee-high boots. Kotori instantly recognized who the young woman was.

"Droite?" Kotori spoke as she got back to her feet.

"I saw that whole duel." Droite told her. "For someone of your skill level, you did pretty well against Mitaka. Though that might've partly been because she underestimate you."

"Do you know what's going on here?" Kotori asked.

"Yeah. And you better come with me." Droite told her. "We've got a lot we need to talk about."

* * *

Samantha emerged from the portal on another part of the academy grounds. Upon exiting, she was met by another young woman in a Heartland Academy uniform. She had long black hair tied in a braided ponytail, and green eyes by a pair of glasses with oval-shaped frames. The students of Heartland Academy still knew this girl as Chitose Amamiya, but Samantha knew her as one of her fellow Death Queens, Anitak.

"Hello, Mitaka." Chitose greeted. "I trust your plan is going smoothly?"

"Actually, Ani, there's been kind of a wrinkle." Samantha admitted. "Somehow Astral World's Envoy was able to give one of his Numbers to the Mezuki girl. As a result, the little spell I cast on the city to alter everyone's memories was broken, at least on her."

"I see." Chitose replied. "That could cause problems for this plan of yours."

"Relax, that girl is nothing." Samantha assured her. "Sure her remember how things really are is kind of annoying, but that's it."

"But do you not thing that with her memory restored, the romantic bond she has with Tsukumo will undermine all that you've done?" Chitose asked.

"Jeez, Ani. If I've told you once, I've told you a thousand times. There's no such thing as love." An unworried Samantha responded. "Love is just something dreamed up by humans in order to justify and even glorify the act of sex. In fact the more enlightened humans have even recognized this. The only thing between Mezuki and Tsukumo is the hormonal urge to hump like bunnies. Once Tsukumo see that he can get the same action from me or the members of my coven, the Numeron Code's as good as ours."

"You'll forgive me if I'm being cautious." Chitose told her. "Alnia will not be pleased if we fail."

"Trust me, Ani. I've got this." Samantha told her. "Yuma Tsukumo is already as good as mine."

* * *

**Author's Note:** I hope that wasn't two bad of an opening chapter. The next chapter will have a bit more exposition as to what's happening. Anyway, the who Mystical Elf vs. Dark Elf thing came to me last year when I was playing one of my old Gameboy Advance Yu-Gi-Oh! games just for the heck of it. Almost all the characters on a certain level of that game used multiple copies of Dark Elf in their decks. Actually it was kind of funny when I'd set a Blast Sphere on the field and they'd attack it with Dark Elf. They pretty much just paid 1000 life points just to blow themselves up.

Please review and let me know what you think.


	2. Spell Over Heartland

**Disclaimer:** I do not own Yu-Gi-Oh! ZEXAL.

* * *

Chapter 2: Spell Over Heartland

The rain continued to come down hard as Kotori sat in the passenger seat of Droite's car, which at that moment was driving towards Heartland Tower. There had been silence in the car for the whole trip. When they left the school, Kotori had of course asked Droite what she knew about what was happening, but the butterfly duelist had told Kotori to wait until they got to the tower to explain everything. Unfortunately this silence was not helping Kotori's state of mind. She kept worrying about if there was any way to change things back to normal, and if not, where did that leave her and Yuma?

Within only a few minutes, Kotori and Droite arrived at Heartland Tower, which among other things was the residence of Droite's boyfriend, Kaito Tenjo. The ladies found said blonde waiting for them in his lab, and Kaito was not alone. Also with Kaito was his robot minion, Orbital 7. Besides Orbital though, there were two young men waiting in the lab. One of the young men had tan skin and dark hair, and was wearing a black leather jacket over a red buttoned-up shirt, and white slacks. Kotori instantly recognized this young man as Alit. The other young man in the room had bright orange hair and was wearing a brown jacket with an off-white fur collar. Kotori of course recognized this young man as Vector.

"So, I take it Kotori remembers what happened?" Kaito asked Droite.

"Definitely." Droite confirmed. "She was even dueling the one who did all this, and with Utopia no less."

"Utopia?" a surprised Kaito repeated. "So Astral gave her a Number as well?"

"It looks that way." Droite confirmed.

"Excuse me, but will you guys tell me what's going on?" Kotori requested with a hint of impatience in her voice.

"Yeah, sorry." Kaito replied, turning to Kotori. "I'm guessing that even though you remember what happened, there are some things you're confused about."

"Just hold on a sec." Vector cut in. "How do we know that Kotori here remembers everything that happened?"

"As much as I hate to admit it, Vector has a point." Alit agreed. "It would probably save us some time if we knew we didn't have to explain stuff she probably already knew."

"Fair enough." Kaito nodded. "Okay Kotori, what do you remember about the incident from yesterday?"

"Pretty much everything, I think." Kotori answered. "It was kind of late in the afternoon, and I was in the park with Yuma. Come to think of it, you and Droite were there too…"

* * *

_The sun had climbed low in the sky as Kotori and Yuma walked hand in hand through the park. The two of them were about to decide to head for home when Kotori glanced around and saw Kaito and Droite by a park bench deep in conversation. From the grave expressions Kotori saw on their faces, it seemed like whatever they were talking about was quite serious._

_"Hey Yuma, has something been bothering Kaito lately?" Kotori asked._

_"Not that I know of. Why?" Yuma replied._

_"Well he and Droite are over there, and it seems like whatever they're talking about is pretty serious." Kotori answered. "I hope nothing's wrong."_

_"Let's go find out." Yuma decided before heading in the other couple's direction._

_Before Kotori could stop Yuma, a vortex in the form of a galaxy appeared in front of him and Kotori. Kaito and Droite had noticed the appearance of the vortex as well. Samantha emerged from Kotori and Yuma's side of the phenomenon wearing a red top with two thin shoulder straps that showed off her cleavage, along with a short denim skirt and a pair of black sneakers with white socks. A pair of gold bracelets adorned the redhead's wrists._

_"Well hi there." Samantha greeted as the vortex closed behind her. "You must be Yuma."_

_"Who are you?" Yuma demanded to know._

_"I'm sure even someone as dense as you has figured out what I am, at least." Samantha answered. "After all, you did duel Ani not too long ago."_

_"You're one of those Barian Death Queens, aren't you?" Yuma realized._

_"Good boy. Now here's a little reward for figuring that out." Samantha responded._

_With that, Samantha fired a beam of red light from the palm of her hand that hit Yuma in the chest. The beam left a strange mark that glowed with a red light from underneath his shirt. Yuma fell onto his back and seemed to be in pain. A worried Kotori hurried to his side and got on her knees to hold his hand. Meanwhile, Kaito and Droite ran over to the scene._

_"What did you do to Yuma?" Kotori demanded to know._

_"Just gave him a little curse." Samantha answered. "Pretty soon the Numeron Code will be as good as mine."_

_"We're not going to let that happen!" Kaito declared._

_"Oh of course you will." Samantha told him with a grin. "Because in a moment, you aren't even going to remember who your friend is. The same goes for his little girlfriend. In fact by the time I'm through, everyone in this city will remember things as I wish them too!"_

_With that, Samantha raised her hands in the air and began chanting in a strange language. As she did so, her body began to give off a red aura and the sky above rumbled and became covered in thick dark clouds. The wind began to pick up, and suddenly a light shined from the Emperor's Key and a feint image of Astral appeared over it. The dimensional being was already in pain and changing from blue to red. Then, on some odd instinct that she couldn't understand, Kotori grasped the Emperor's Key. Samantha shot a beam of crimson light into the air, and at the same time Astral gave off a flash that caused a few glowing cards to scatter. Soon after, the sky gave a blinding flash and everything seemed to go dark._

* * *

"…The next thing I remember after having this weird dream I had was waking up in bed with the Emperor's Key." Kotori continued. "I didn't remember what happened until my duel with Samantha… or I guess I should say Mitaka, when Astral appeared and gave me Utopia."

"Then it sounds like you're up to speed on what's going on." Kaito observed. "As you're probably figured out, this Mitaka has somehow altered the memories of almost everyone in the city. Until recently, you didn't remember who Yuma was, just like how doesn't seem to remember you or anything about Astral or the Emperor's Key. He also doesn't seem to even remember me, Droite or any of the former Barians."

"Are you serious?" a stunned Kotori asked.

Kaito nodded. "Shortly after this happened, Droite and I went and found Yuma. He didn't recall who either of us was."

"The same happened with me." Alit confirmed. "When I found Yuma, he acted like it was the first time we met."

"So how come all of you seem to remember what's happened?" Kotori asked.

"Do you remember how Astral seemed to appear just before that Mitaka girl cast the spell over the city?" Kaito asked. "When he showed up, he was somehow able to give me some of his Numbers."

"Somehow Astral gave me and Alit a few of the Numbers too." Vector revealed. "The two of us happened to be in the park right when this whole thing happened."

"Of course we probably didn't need any of the Numbers, since we already had our 10X Numbers." Alit interjected. "Still, it seems like Astral wants our help in stopping this."

"So then Droite, I guess this means you have some of the Numbers too?" Kotori assumed.

"Actually, no." Droite revealed as she put her hand over her stomach. "There seems to be another reason why I wasn't affected by this spell."

"In any case," Kaito spoke before Kotori could ask what Droite meant, "it seems like Mitaka has waited until we were short handed to make this move."

"That's right! Shark and the other former Barians are out of town right now." Kotori recalled. "So are Hikari and Cleo."

"That's right. They got special permission to leave town for a couple of weeks." Alit confirmed. "Right now Gilag is on what he called a training journey, though he wouldn't tell me what the heck it was about. Meanwhile, Nasch and Merag are in Neo Domino visiting Hikari and Cleo's parents. Durbe went with them because he has the hots for Hikari's sister, not that he'd admit it."

"That's right. And Mizael's with Cathy at that wedding of her cousin's." Kotori recalled.

"None of them are coming back for a few days." Alit replied. "Which means the six of us in this room are the only ones who know what's really happening."

"Can't we call for help?" Kotori asked.

"I've already tried." Kaito revealed. "Whatever this spell is seems to be preventing us from communicating with anyone outside the city."

"Okay then, so how do we break this spell?" Kotori asked.

"On that, I'm afraid I have no clue right now." Kaito answered. "It looks like the only way might be to defeat Mitaka."

"Well, I managed to beat her when we dueled, so it might not be that hard." Kotori optimistically replied.

"I wouldn't be so sure about that." Droite told her. "I saw that whole duel, and it seems to me if you hadn't summoned Utopia or Utopia Ray, you wouldn't have won. Plus I could tell from the moves Mitaka made that she was going easy on you, like she didn't think you were a serious threat."

"You know… you might be right about that." Kotori admitted. "The truth is, I probably couldn't have used Utopia Ray if Astral hadn't sort of talked me through it."

"So you communicated with Astral during the duel?" Kaito asked.

"Yeah. I even saw him when he gave me Utopia." Kotori confirmed. "He looked like he was in pain."

"So whatever Mitaka did to Yuma before casting that spell has effected Astral too." Kaito observed.

"Then it looks like we need to put a stop to all this soon." Alit decided. "Otherwise Yuma and Astral might not last for much longer."

"Whatever you guys decide to do, I'm helping out too." Kotori told them. "Astral gave me Utopia for a reason. So I'm going to help you guys fight with everything I've got."

"Okay then." Kaito agreed. "But from the sound of it, you might want to start by giving your deck a tune-up."

"I'll get started on that right away." Kotori replied. "Next time if I end up dueling Mitaka again, I won't be so easy to beat."

* * *

Night was beginning to fall as Samantha sat at a large round table with four chairs in a room in the basement of Heartland Academy wearing her street clothes. She glanced at the clock in the wall and saw that the people she was waiting for were running a little bit late. After a moment she heard steps coming down the stairs, but saw that it was only Chitose. She had on what looked like a school uniform consisting of a pink jacket with a short blue skirt and a sort of blue tie around her neck that was tied in a sort of a bow.

"Am I intruding on you?" Chitose asked as she came down the stairs.

"Nah, I'm just waiting on the little coven I formed to help me do this job." Samantha answered.

"Your coven?" Chitose repeated with a raised eyebrow.

"Yeah, I decided to get a little backup and maybe let someone else nail Yuma for me." Samantha revealed. "I mean he's not bad-looking except for that weird haircut of his, but it wouldn't hurt to let someone else do the job for me."

"Perfectly understandable." Chitose replied. "Though I would've thought that you would've avoided using the term, coven, considering your history."

"Hey, that was the rep I got stuck with towards the end of my tragically short past life. I might as well use it." Samantha replied.

Before the conversation could get any further, the two Barians heard the sound of footsteps and looked to see a young woman who looked to be about seventeen coming down to join them. She had fair skin and long white hair, along with a pair of striking royal purple eyes. Her outfit consisted of a pink jacket over a white t-shirt, along with a short yellow skirt and white shoes.

"Ah, Ani I'd like you to meet the first member of my little club, Alice Kono." Samantha introduced. "Alice, this a friend of mine, Anitak. Though if you see her on the school grounds, call her Chitose."

"Charmed." Alice replied as she briefly shook Chitose's hand. "So Sammy, do you intend to bring your friend here into the coven as well?"

"No, she's just here to provide backup." Samantha answered. "Not that I really need it, of course."

The sound of more footsteps could soon be heard, and walking down the stairs was another young woman of about sixteen. She had pale skin with red eyes, and black hair with a streak of green on one of her locks at the front. Her eyes had black mascara, and her outfit consisted of a black hooded sweatshirt with a short red skirt.

"Sorry I'm late." The hooded girl spoke as she sat in one of the provided chairs. "I was putting a curse on this airheaded cheerleader who made a crack about my outfit. Let's hope she enjoys having all her hair fall out."

"It's okay Fujisaki, Alice just got here herself." Samantha assured her. "Ani, this is the second member of my little coven, Fujisaki Hotsuda."

At that moment, another young woman came down the steps. This one had short dark-blue hair and yellow eyes that were behind a pair of thick round glasses. Unlike the rest of the group, she still had her Heartland Academy uniform on.

"Oh dear, am I late?" the bluenette asked.

"No later than the rest of us." Alice told her.

"Come and sit down, Moe." Samantha told her. "Ani, this is the last member of the group, Moe Chiba. Well, now that we're all here, I think we can begin."

With that, Moe and Alice sat down at the round table. Chitose meanwhile remained standing in a corner of the room to listen.

"Okay then, so I'm guessing that by now we have this school pretty much wrapped around our fingers." Samantha began. "Now we can focus on our main objective, making Yuma Tsukumo ours."

"What about that girlfriend of his, Mezuki?" Fujisaki asked. "Is she gonna cause us problems?"

"Actually, she might be a tiny bit of a problem." Samantha admitted. "But she's nothing I can't handle. In the meantime, I want all of you to focus on Yuma. At least one of you has to take him so we can use him to get the Numeron Code."

"Don't worry Sammy, we won't let you down." Alice assured her. "There's no way that Yuma Tsukumo can resist any of us. That Numeron Code or whatever you call it is as good as yours."

* * *

**Author's Note:** Big thanks to K.I.T.T. RIDER for helping me come up with the members of Samantha/Mitaka's little coven. Anyway, my spring break is unfortunately pretty much over now, so it'll probably be a few days before the next chapter. Hopefully I won't be keeping everyone waiting for too long though.

Please review and let me know what you think.


	3. Do or Die

**Author's Note:** The title for this next chapter was originally going to be Mitaka's Curse. But I felt like this title was way more appropriate.

**Disclaimer:** I do not own Yu-Gi-Oh! ZEXAL.

* * *

Chapter 3: Do or Die

_Yuma was running through the halls of Heartland Academy as fast as his legs could carry him. He couldn't recall how he had gotten there, but he knew he had to run. There was something chasing after him, though he didn't know what it was, nor did he want to. All he knew was that whatever it was wished him some kind of harm. And whatever it was seemed to be gaining on him. He could hear the thing gliding through the halls as if it had wings._

_Everything around Yuma was grey as though it was cast in an eternal twilight. The school looked as though it had been long abandoned. As Yuma ran, he was not only running away from the thing that was pursuing him, but he was also looking for something, or rather for some one. Though he didn't know whom this person he was trying to find was. The only thing Yuma knew for sure was that this person was very important to him for some reason._

_As Yuma turned a corner, he glanced back and caught a glimpse of what was after him. It looked like a black shadow that had an almost human shape, along with great wings and a pair of glowing golden eyes. Yuma looked away from the thing tried running faster. He made a left, and to his horror reached a dead end. He heard the shadow land right behind him, and against his better instincts he turned around. The shadow took the form of Samantha, who was completely nude._

_Yuma began to back away towards the wall behind him. Though he found Samantha to be a very stunning girl, he could sense something very dangerous about her. Samantha meanwhile began to advance on him as she licked her lips. She was like a cat that had just cornered a mouse. Yuma desperately looked around for some avenue of escape but couldn't find one. He was trapped and he knew it. In moments Samantha had him pinned against the wall._

_"It's useless to fight this." Samantha told him. "Just relax. I know you're gonna enjoy this."_

_Yuma suddenly found that his body seemed to be frozen. Samantha moved in to kiss him, and try as he might, Yuma could do nothing to avoid the kiss of death that was about to come._

* * *

Yuma shot up in the hammock that served as his bed. The sudden movement caused the hammock to tilt and he fell hard to the wooden floor below him. Yuma groaned with pain as he got back to his feet. As Yuma cricked his spine back into place, he couldn't help but think about how real the nightmare he had just experienced felt. He decided to go splash some cold water on his face to try and shake it off. A bit later down in the bathroom as he looked at himself in the mirror after splashing himself with water from the sink, he suddenly felt like his chest was on fire.

Upon removing his shirt, Yuma was horrified to see a hideous mark that looked like it was burned onto the center of his chest like a brand. The mark was a single vertical line that split at the top into two curved lines like the top of a heart. Beneath both curved was a dot above a small almost diamond-shaped mark. The skin all around this mark was red and flaking as though it was infected. And whatever the infection was seemed like it was spreading.

Morning came, overcast by grey clouds just like the day before. Yuma had managed to drag himself to school despite not getting a full night's sleep. He hadn't been able to get back to sleep after the nightmare and finding the mark on his chest. Yuma had tried to tell his older sister, Akari about the mark, but for some reason he couldn't bring the subject up in front of her. It was as though some force had prevented him from speaking of it. As the first bell rang, Yuma tried to put the events of the night before out of his mind and headed for class.

"Hey Yuma." A voice spoke from behind, causing him to jump.

Yuma turned around, and standing behind him was a young woman about his age with hair that was red on top and pink on the bottom. He recognized this young woman as Anna Kozuki. Though Yuma and Anna didn't normally hang out together, they had been on friendly terms with one another ever since Anna had transferred to the academy two years ago.

"Hi Anna." Yuma responded. "What's up?"

"You doing anything later this afternoon?" Anna asked.

"Not really. Why?" Yuma asked back.

"I thought you and I could go out somewhere after school." Anna answered.

"What, you mean like… like a date?" Yuma asked.

"Well…" Anna began, looking away with a slight blush. "I guess you could say that's what this would be."

"So… are you asking me to be your boyfriend?" Yuma asked as his own face turned a bit red.

"Look, it's not like I'm proposing marriage here or anything." Anna told him. "But I haven't really been in that sort of relationship for a while, and I know you probably haven't had a girlfriend ever. And… the truth is I've kinda had my eye on you lately. So all I'm asking for is one date, and we'll see how it goes from there. So how 'bout it?"

"Well… sure. Why not?" Yuma agreed.

"Great. I'll meet you out in front of the school at the end of the day." Anna told him. "You better not keep me waiting." With that, Anna quickly went off to her own classroom.

Yuma headed for class as well. As Yuma walked through the halls, he was overcome by a strange feeling. He didn't know why, but he felt like he had just betrayed someone.

* * *

Kotori let out a yawn as she walked out of the classroom to head for lunch. She had stayed up until almost 2:00 AM trying to improve her deck using cards that Kaito and the others had given her. Many of the cards Kotori had been given were cards that she had seen Yuma use hundreds of times. Of course Droite had warned Kotori against trying to imitate Yuma's deck, so Kotori picked the cards that she was most familiar with and used them to try and improve her own. Kotori hoped very much that the deck she had put together in the end would help her to save Yuma.

As soon as Kotori reached the cafeteria, she spotted Samantha sitting by herself at one of the tables. Seeing it as an opportunity to get some answers, Kotori headed immediately towards her.

"Mitaka!" Kotori spoke, getting the redhead's attention.

"Well, I was wondering when I'd run into you again." Samantha calmly responded. "If you don't mind, I'd like to take the conversation we're about to have to somewhere more private."

"Fine with me." Kotori agreed.

With that, Samantha led Kotori out of the cafeteria and into the nearest girl's restroom. Once inside, Samantha took a quick look to make sure they were alone.

"Okay. If this is about a rematch, I should probably warn you that you only won yesterday because you got lucky." Samantha told her.

"I know that, and I didn't come to duel you right now." Kotori replied.

"Alright, then let me guess. You want to know how to save your precious Yuma and change everything back to normal." Samantha deduced. "Am I right?"

"There's that, and I want to know what you did to Yuma." Kotori told her.

"Okay, that's as good a place to start as any." Samantha replied. "I put a little curse on Yuma, one that if something isn't done soon will kill him. It'll also kill the Envoy of Astral World."

"Then what do I need to do to break it?" Kotori asked. "There is a way, isn't there?"

"Of course there's a way for you to break the curse." Samantha confirmed. "You have to give yourself to Yuma, in a way that you haven't done before."

"What do you mean?" Kotori asked.

At this, Samantha chuckled and shook her head. "Oh you are just priceless, birdie-girl. I'm sure it'd be obvious to anyone else, but for you it looks like I'll have to spell it out. You have to screw Yuma in order to save his life."

"You mean…" a startled Kotori began as her face turned bright red. "You mean Yuma and I have to…"

"You have to have sex, yeah." Samantha confirmed. "If Yuma doesn't get laid in the next five days, counting today, he's going to die a very painful death. First his balls will explode, then his heart will. It's not gonna be pretty."

"But that's…" a flustered Kotori spoke. "I can't believe you'd do something like this!"

"Hey, that's the kind of girl I am." Samatha replied with a shrug. "It's do or die, birdie-girl. Meaning if Yuma doesn't do somebody in the next few days, he dies."

"I just can't believe it." Kotori spoke. "I never imagined I'd have to go that far to save him."

"Hey, if you're too chicken to get it on with him, that's your problem." Samantha told her.

"That's not it!" Kotori told her.

"Look, I don't care what little hang-ups you have. If you want to save Yuma, you'll have to get over them." Samantha continued. "Not that you really have a chance anyway, since our darling Yuma doesn't have a clue who you are now thanks to my little spell. It is a little bit inconvenient for me that you regained your memory, but it's not a big deal. It's still going to be easy for me to take Yuma from you."

"What do you mean?" Kotori asked.

"Well, if Yuma doesn't get it on with anybody in the next few days, he dies." Samantha answered. "But if he gets it on with me or any member of the little coven I formed, he'll become my eternal slave. Not only that, the Envoy of Astral World will still die and the Numeron Code will fall into my hands."

"That won't happen." Kotori confidently declared. "Yuma would never give himself over to someone like you, not matter what kind of spell you've put on him."

"Think whatever you want, birdie-girl." Samantha told her. "It won't change what's about to happen. Yuma's ass is mine, and there's not a damn thing you can do about it."

With that, Samantha left the restroom with a satisfied smirk on her face. Kotori meanwhile clutched onto the counter to keep herself from falling to her knees. She was simply overwhelmed by what Samantha had told her she needed to do to save Yuma, and she wasn't sure if she'd be able to go that far.

* * *

It was the middle of the afternoon as Heartland Academy's star athlete; Vince "The Flash" Ishida entered the locker-room with his fellow students. He had managed to work up quite the sweat during basketball practice. The blonde athlete stayed under the shower longer than the rest of his team. The sound of the water hitting the titled floor often helped him to unwind after a hard few hours on the court. By the time Flash finally finished, he found himself alone in the gym showers.

Just as Flash was finally about to leave, all of the showers suddenly turned on by themselves and a warm steam filled the large room. The steam died down a bit after a moment to reveal Samantha, who was standing before Flash wearing nothing but a smile. The blood instantly rushed to the athlete's manhood the moment he saw the redhead.

"Oh dear, this isn't the girl's locker-room, is it?" Samantha spoke as she sauntered towards Flash. "Oh well. I'm certainly not going to complain."

"Y-you're that hot exchange student, Sammy Warren!" Flash quickly realized. "What're you…"

Samantha quickly silenced Flash by placing a finger over his lips. "Now, now. You don't need to think about that sort of thing, big boy. All you need to know is that I'm all yours."

With that, Samantha put her right arm around Flash's neck and got on her toes to jam her tongue into his mouth. At the same time, her left hand moved down and began to rub his hardened rob. Flash quickly gave into his lust and let his tongue rub against the redhead's. Meanwhile his right hand moved to massage Samantha's perfect breast, causing her to moan into his mouth. When they finally broke for air, Flash grabbed onto Samantha's rear and lifted her up, allowing him to insert his rod into Samantha's womanhood. Samantha moaned and threw her head back as she quickly wrapped her legs around the blonde's waist.

"Don't hold anything back." Samantha told Flash as he began to buck his hips into her. "Just give it to me!"

On command, Flash plowed into Samantha even faster than before. As the redhead wrapped her arms around the athlete's neck for support, she dug her nails into her back. Flash was so lost in pleasure that he didn't notice when Samantha's eyes started to glow. Before long, Flash suddenly began to feel some sort of energy pulsing through his body, starting at his rod. He didn't know what it was, but he didn't care, as each pulse sent him to new heights to pleasure.

Suddenly a pair of angelic black-feathered wings sprouted on Samantha's back. Her body began to crackle with red electricity as her skin changed to a rosy pink. A thin tail with a point on the end like that of a demon sprouted on her rear, and her head grew a small pair of golden horns. A pair of spherical gems became embedded in the redhead's shoulders, and her fingernails became like white claws. Her face became like a mask that seemed to be lacking a nose and mouth. The left side of this mask became covered in gold.

Eventually Flash picked up speed as he finally felt Mitaka's inner walls tightening around his manhood. With one last hard thrust they climaxed at the same moment. As the female Barian came down from her orgasm, flash merely stood there with a goofy expression on his face, completely oblivious to all that was going on.

"I figured you'd be good with all the sports you do." Mitaka spoke. "Let's see if you're just as good as a duelist."

With that, Mitaka used the nail of her index finger to scratch the same curse symbol on Yuma's chest into Flash's forehead. The scratches glowed with an unearthly red light for a moment before they vanished completely.

* * *

The school day was nearing its end as Kotori stood on the roof of the school lost in thought. She couldn't believe the measures Samantha had told her she needed to go to in order to save Yuma from a cruel fate. Kotori simply wasn't sure she would be able to do what Samantha told her was needed to break the curse. In fact she wasn't even sure if she could tell Kaito and the others about this development. Of course Kotori had thought about finally making love to Yuma in the past, but she never felt like she was ready to take such a big step with him. But now, if Mitaka was to be believed, it almost seemed like the decision to give herself to Yuma had been made for her.

"Kotori Mizuki!" a voice spoke, causing Kotori to look. The green-haired girl saw Flash standing a few feet away.

"You're Flash Ishida, the school's sports star." Kotori identified. "What do you want?"

"It isn't what I want so much as what my mistress wants." Flash told her. "I've come here to crush you in a duel!"

"Hey there, birdie-girl." Samantha spoke as she walked out from behind Flash. "I found another opponent for you. Let's see how you do against him."

"I'm guessing I don't have a choice, do I?" Kotori assumed.

"The only way you're walking off this roof is past me!" Flash declared.

"Fine! Let's go!" Kotori agreed.

With that, Kotori and Flash both activated their D-Gazers and duel disks. Meanwhile Mitaka's left eye changed from gold to blue. In an instant the color of the surrounding area changed slightly.

"I'm going first!" Kotori declared as she drew her first card. "First I set two cards face-down. Then I summon Gagaga Girl in Attack Mode!"

Appearing on Kotori's side of the battlefield was a teenage girl with light-blonde hair and reddish-brown eyes. She had on a dark-blue outfit that included a conical hat with orange trim that curved forward. Around her neck was a long pink scarf, and her skirt had large pink diamond-shaped segments, and on the back of the skirt was a large pink bow. In place of a magic wand, the young sorceress carried a red smart phone with a large keychain that had two white skulls dangling on the end.

"I end my turn." Kotori announced.

"Gee, I wonder if she's set some kind of trap?" Samantha asked very sarcastically. "A five-year-old can read moves like that!"

"Don't worry, my mistress. I've got this in the bag." Flash assured Samantha before drawing his next card. "For my first move I play the Continuous Spell card, Fire Formation – Tensu! Then because I have a Fire Formation card and no monsters, I can special summon Brotherhood of the Fire Fist – Coyote!"

Appearing on Flash's side of the battlefield was a man with long black hair and a beard. He had on a dark-blue outfit with orange trim that was like that of an old Chinese nobleman. In both hands, the man carried a long black chain.

"A monster with 2000 ATK on the first turn!" Kotori exclaimed.

"That's right. And thanks to Fire Formation – Tensu, all of my Beast-Warrior monsters gain an additional 100 ATK." Flash revealed. "Meaning Coyote's ATK becomes 2100. Now, for my next move I summon Brotherhood of the Fire Fist – Bear in Attack Mode!"

Appearing next to Coyote was a muscular warrior wearing black armor with gold and red trim. A flame burned on the top of his helmet, and in his hands he carried a sheathed sword.

"Thanks to Fire Formation – Tensu, Bear's ATK goes from 1600 to 1700." Flash continued. "Now I use the effect of Fire Formation – Tensu to summon Brotherhood of the Fire Fist – Buffalo in Attack Mode!"

Materializing on Flash's side of the battlefield was another warrior with long curly black hair and a beard. He wore silver and blue armor with red trim, and on his helmet was a pair of small curved horns. In each hand, the warrior carried an axe.

"Buffalo's ATK rises from 1700 to 1800 thanks to Tensu." Flash continued. "With these three monster on the field, you're as good as toast."

"Nicely done, Flash." Samantha praised. "Win this duel, I'll reward you."

_'It's okay.'_ Kotori thought as she took a gulp. _'I can use the Gagaga Dimension card I set to destroy Coyote. After that I can start to turn things around on the next turn.'_

_"Kotori!"_ a voice spoke inside Kotori's head. The green-haired duelist instantly recognized the voice as Astral's. _"Do not use Gagaga Dimension's effect… on Coyote!"_

_'What?'_ Kotori responded.

"I attack Gagaga Girl with Buffalo!" Flash announced.

"I… I activate my face-down card, Gagaga Dimension!" Kotori quickly announced.

Just as Buffalo raised his axes to attack, Gagaga Girl became enveloped in a burst of pink smoke. The smoke cleared to reveal a silver and red sarcophagus secured by gold chains inside a rectangular metal frame. The front of the crown on the head of the sarcophagus bore the red symbol of the Gagaga monsters. The top half of Gagaga Girl was sticking out the front of the sarcophagus, while her legs were sticking out the back. Gagaga Girl had an indifferent expression on her face, as she seemed to be texting on her phone.

"Because I have a Gagaga monster on the field, Gagaga Dimension lets me summon another Spellcaster from my hand!" Kotori announced. "I use Gagaga Dimension to summon Gagaga Magician!"

The sarcophagus opened, and emerging from it was a silver-haired wizard clad in a black and red outfit similar to Gagaga Girl's. He wore a conical hat that curved forward and a black stocking covered the lower half of his face. On his left foot he wore a red knee-high boot, and on his right he had on a simple brown shoe with a chain coiled around the ankle that went up all the way around his waist up to the back of his head. Attached to the chain was a sort of belt buckle was a kind of gold ornament or charm. His shoulders were covered by pieces of red armor, and around his neck was a tattered red scarf.

"And now, the second effect of Gagaga Dimension lets me destroy an opponent's monster!" Kotori announced as the sarcophagus disappeared. "And the monster I destroy is… Brotherhood of the Fire Fist – Buffalo!"

Gagaga Magician aimed his palm at Buffalo while Gagaga Girl took aim with her smart phone. Both magicians fired an intense blast of blue light that vaporized Buffalo in an instant.

"You took out one monster, but I've still got two left!" Flash pointed out to Kotori. "Bear, attack Gagaga Girl with Flame of the Bear!"

"I activate the Trap, Gagaga Guard!" Kotori announced. "Thanks to this card, Gagaga Magician and Gagaga Girl can't be destroyed in battle this turn!"

Bear pulled out his sword and swung it through the air, sending a blast of flames at Kotori's monsters. The large flame took the form of a bear that slashed its claws at Gagaga Girl, only to strike a spherical transparent barrier. Kotori still took some of the flames though, and her life points dropped to 3300.

"Since Bear was able to inflict some damage, I can set a Fire Formation card on the field directly from my deck!" Flash continued. "Coyote! Attack Gagaga Magician! Flame of the Coyote!"

Coyote swung his black chain like a whip and sent a massive green flame at the Gagaga Duo. The flame took the shape of a coyote that attempted to bite Gagaga Magician, only to be blocked by the same barrier that blocked the bear. Kotori once again took part of the attack and her life points fell to 2700.

"You idiot! Why didn't you attack Gagaga Girl with both monsters?" an irritated Samantha asked.

"Relax, mistress. I've got everything handled." Flash assured her. "You said so yourself that the girl's a rookie. No matter what I do, beating her will be a piece of cake."

"Cocky bastard." Samantha grumbled. "If you screw this up, Flash, I'm going to give you pain the likes of which you've never experienced before! Got that?"

Flash flinched and took a gulp. "Y-Yes mistress."

"Good. Now get on with it!" Samantha ordered.

"I, uh… I end my turn!" Flash announced.

Kotori took a breath as she drew her next card. "I activate Gagaga Magician's effect and change his level from four to six!"

"Well that's unexpected." Samantha spoke. "I would've thought you were going to use those two magicians of yours to summon that Number."

"I've got another monster I can use to win this duel!" Kotori declared. "I activate Gagaga Girl's effect and match her level to Gagaga Magician's! Now I overlay both my level six monsters to Xyz Summon my own ace! Help me out, Magi Magi Magician Gal!"

A vortex appeared in the middle of the battlefield and pulled in the two magicians as balls of purple energy. Rising out of the vortex a moment later was a fair-skinned young woman with blonde hair and pinkish eyes, wearing a black curved conical hat with pink trim and a sleeveless black outfit with a short pink skirt and a short pink cape on the back. She also had on a pair of black boots, and in her hand she carried a short pink and gold wand. Orbiting around the female magician were two balls of purple light.

"Is that… the Dark Magician Girl?" a stunned Flash asked.

"Idiot. But then I guess I didn't pick him for his brain." Samantha quietly admitted before turning her attention to Kotori. "I have to admit I'm impressed, birdie-girl. That's actually a pretty decent monster you've just summoned."

"I now activate Gagaga Girl's other effect!" Kotori announced. "Since she was used for an Xyz Summon, I can reduce the ATK of a special summoned monster my opponent controls to zero! And the monster I choose is Brotherhood of the Fire Fist – Coyote!"

A ghostly image of Gagaga Girl appeared around one of the balls of light orbiting Magician Gal and fired a beam of purple light from her smart phone. The beam hit Coyote in the chest and dropped his ATK.

"Well done." Samantha praised. "You even realized that you couldn't have used Gagaga Girl's effect on Buffalo, since he was brought to the field as an additional normal summon."

At this, Kotori gasped. _'That's why Astral didn't want me to use Gagaga Dimension to destroy Coyote!'_

"I'll admit that you're not bad for a rookie. But I'm still going to take you down!" Flash declared.

"That's where you're wrong!" Kotori declared. "No matter what you do, I'm not giving up until I find a way to save Yuma!"

* * *

**Author's Note:** Because Kotori only ever dueled one time in the anime, I decided to give her a completely new deck. I took a little inspiration from the episodes of the original series when Tea dueled the Big Five member and penguin-obsessed pervert, Crump and had Kotori use some of Yuma's cards along with some generic Spellcaster and Warrior support. She'll only be using the Gagaga monsters though, and none of the other sound effect named archetypes used by Yuma. For those who don't know, Magi Magi Magician Gal is a real card. The artwork for it was originally going to be used for just another Dark Magician Girl reprint, but somewhere along the line it was decided to use the artwork for a card that could be a possible evolved form to Dark Magician Girl. Personally I would've preferred a Ritual or Synchro Monster, but I'll take what I can get.

I'd also like to note a change I've made to this chapter as of May 16th, 2017. My friend DragonKnight15 recently reviewed this chapter, and he noticed that I made kind of a major error with the duel. I totally forgot that the Magical Dimension card that Kotori originally used required a tribute in order to activate. So as a quick fix, I came up with a new version of Magical Dimension known as Gagaga Dimension. Probably not the most elegant solution, but still a simple one.

Please review and let me know what you think.


	4. The Forms of Hope

**Disclaimer:** I do not own Yu-Gi-Oh! ZEXAL.

* * *

Chapter 4: The Forms of Hope

"I activate Magi Magi Magician Gal's effect!" Kotori announced. "By detaching one of her overlay units and banishing a card from my hand, I can take control of one of my opponent's monsters until the end of the turn! And the monster I'm taking control of is Brotherhood of the Fire Fist – Bear!"

One of the balls of purple light orbiting Magician Gal entered the decorative broach on her chest. Magician Gal took aim at Bear with her wand and fired a heart made of pink energy that struck Bear in the face. The spellcaster winked a Bear, and the instantly smitten fire warrior went over to Kotori's side of the battlefield.

"I attack Coyote with Bear!" Kotori announced. "Flame of the Bear!"

"I activate the Continuous Trap, Fire Formation – Tensen!" Flash announced. "With this card, I give Coyote an extra 700 ATK! And since Tensen also gives every Beast-Warrior I control an additional 300 ATK, Coyote's ATK goes up by 1000!"

Bear slashed his sword through the air and sent forth a massive red flame that quickly took the shape of a bear. The bear flame tackled into Coyote and instantly vaporized the warrior. Flash's life points dropped to 3400.

"Magician Gal, attack Flash directly!" Kotori commanded. "Dark Blazing Magic!"

Magician Gal took aim at Flash and a ball of crackling pink energy formed at the end of her wand. As the ball grew bigger, Magician Gal fired it at Flash. The blonde athlete was struck in the chest and his life points plunged to 1000.

"I'll set one card face-down and end my turn." Kotori announced.

With the end of the turn, Bear suddenly shook his head and went back over to Flash's side of the battlefield. Flash got back to his feet and drew his next card.

"Looks like I need to stop playing around." Flash observed. "For my first move, I activate Buffalo's effect from the Graveyard! By sending two Fire Formation or Fire Fist cards from my hand or field to the Graveyard, I can summon Buffalo back to the field. So I discard Brotherhood of the Fire Fist – Hawk and Brotherhood of the Fire Fist – Raven!"

At this, a burst of blue flames ignited on Flash's side of the battlefield next to Bear. The flames quickly subsided to reveal that Buffalo had indeed returned.

"Using both my level four Beast-Warriors, I Xyz Summon the ultimate member of the Fire Fist Brotherhood!" Flash announced. "Come forth, Brotherhood of the Fire Fist – Tiger King!"

A vortex appeared in the center of the field and pulled in Flash's two monsters as balls of red energy. A moment later a pillar of white flames shot from the center of the vortex. The flame soon died down to reveal a man with white hair and a beard clad in dark-red clothes and golden armor. On his head he wore a helmet that resembled the head of a tiger. In his right hand, the warrior carried what looked like a fan that burned with white flames. Orbiting around him were two balls made of white light.

"When I've Xyz Summoned Tiger King, I can set a Fire Formation card straight from my deck!" Flash announced.

"Tiger King may be your strongest monster, but he only has 2200 ATK." Kotori pointed out to Flash. "He's no match for my Magician Gal."

A smirk appeared on Flash's face. "Yeah, right now Tiger King doesn't quite measure up to your magical girl. But that's about to change! I activate the Spell card, Rank-Up-Magic Rune Force!"

"What? A Rank-Up card?" Kotori exclaimed.

"Come now, birdie-girl. Did you really think I'd send Flash after you without giving him a few presents?" Samantha asked with a smirk.

"The power of Rune Force lets me use an Xyz Monster to summon a Rune Mystic monster that's one Rank higher!" Flash announced. "So I use Tiger King to rebuild the overlay network and Xyz Summon Rune Mystic Tiger Monarch!"

The symbol that Mitaka had scratched into Flash's forehead reappeared and began to glow with an orange light. A much larger version of the same mark appeared on the ground beneath Tiger King's feet, and from it a massive pillar of orange light shot into the air. After a moment the light faded to reveal Tiger King in a new form. His white hair had become black and his skin had turned as pale as the skin of a corpse. His once golden armor had turned silver and his clothes had turned black. His eyes glowed with a sinister orange light and there was an evil grin on his face. The symbol on Flash's forehead glowed orange on the tiger warrior's chest armor, and the flaming fan he had as a weapon had been replaced by a silver scepter with a spherical orange gem on top. Orbiting around the warrior were three white balls of flame.

"Tiger Monarch's 2700 ATK is more than enough for him to take out Magician Gal." Flash continued. "Especially since Rune Force cuts the ATK of all my opponent's monster by 1000 until the end of the turn!"

"What?" Kotori exclaimed.

"I activate Tiger Monarch's effect!" Flash announced. "Since he has Tiger King as an overlay unit, I can detach an overlay unit to destroy all of my own Spell and Trap cards! And for each Fire Formation card destroyed by this effect, my opponent takes 400 points of damage!"

One of the balls of fire orbiting Tiger Monarch entered the glowing rune on his chest. The three large Spell and Trap cards on Flash's side of the field ignited and turned into three large fireballs that launched themselves at Kotori. The green-haired duelist cried out in pain as the attack hurled her back into the chain-link fence behind her. Kotori's life points dropped to 1500.

"And now, Tiger Monarch! Burn Magician Gal away!" Flash commanded. "White Rune Tiger Flame!"

Tiger Monarch raised his scepter in the air, and a massive white flame in the form of a tiger with red glowing eyes appeared behind him. The rune symbol that glowed in the monarch's chest glowed on the tiger's forehead. The giant tiger lunged at Magician Gal and created an explosion that covered Kotori's entire side of the battlefield in smoke. When the smoke finally cleared, however, Magician Gal was still standing. In her left hand she was holding a narrow dark-blue shield with golden ends and a large red point on the front of the top half. The bottom half had three red pointed stripes, and on the front was the red emblem of the Gagaga monsters. Yet while Magician Gal was still on the field, Kotori's life point had fallen to a mere 200.

"What the hell's going on?" Flash demanded to know. "Why is that damn magical girl still alive?"

"I activated the Trap… Gagagashield." Kotori explained as she caught her breath. "This card keeps the Spellcaster monster it's equipped to from being destroyed in battle up to two times."

"You're really starting to get on my nerves." Flash told Kotori. "But I guess it doesn't really matter, since you can't use that same little trick from before on Tiger Monarch. You while Tiger Monarch is on the field, he negates the effects of all non-Beast-Warriors. Which means your little magical girl is powerless!"

"Looks like you've reached your limit, birdie-girl." Samantha told her.

Kotori had not expected the duel to take such a dire turn. She knew if she didn't destroy Tiger Monarch, everything would be lost. Kotori drew her next card, hoping for some kind of miracle. And upon seeing what card she had pulled, a small smile appeared on her face.

"I equip Magician Gal with the Spell card, Xyz Unit!" Kotori announced. "This card boosts Magician Gal's ATK by an amount equal to her Rank times 200! Which means her ATK goes up from 2400 to 3600! Magician Gal, attack Tiger Monarch! Dark Blazing Magic!"

Magician Gal took aim and fired another blast of pink magical energy at Tiger Monarch. The attack hit the warrior in the chest, creating a massive explosion. When the smoke cleared though, Tiger Monarch was still on the battlefield. Flash had a smirk on his face even though his life points had dropped to 200.

"What? How come Tiger Monarch wasn't destroyed?" a stunned and confused Kotori asked.

"Rune Mystic monsters have an effect that sets them apart from the every day Xyz Monster." Samantha revealed. "They can only be destroyed in battle by Numbers!"

"Only by Numbers?" Kotori exclaimed.

"I bet you regret not summoning Utopia instead of Magician Gal." Samantha assumed. "As it is now, you can't even use the power of Utopia Ray to win, since Tiger Monarch would just negate his effects!"

_'She's right.'_ Kotori thought. _'Even if I did summon Utopia now, I'd still be stuck.'_

"Since I'm guessing you're done, it's my move!" Flash declared as he drew his next card. "I activate the Spell card, Rune Spark! By detaching an overlay unit from a Rune Mystic monster, I can destroy one of my opponent's monsters and cut their life points in half! And of course the monster I choose is Magi Magi Magician Gal!"

One of the fireballs orbiting around Tiger Monarch suddenly broke away and struck the ground at Magician Gal's feet, creating a massive explosion that knocked Kotori down and dropped her life points to 100.

"I can't attack during the turn I use Rune Spark, so I'll have to end my turn there." Flash announced. "Go ahead and make your next move, because it'll be your last!"

_'There's nothing I can do.'_ Kotori thought as she got back to her feet. '_No matter what I draw, I'm finished. Guess my best just wasn't enough.'_

Suddenly the gem in the Emperor's Key began to pulse and let off a small flash. Kotori felt herself being pulled out of the duel.

* * *

_Kotori found herself standing in a familiar expanse of seemingly endless darkness. Not far away she saw Astral floating before her. His body was still flashing from blue to red and giving off sparks of black electricity._

_"Kotori… you must not give up." Astral told her. "If you do… both Yuma and I will be finished."_

_"But there's nothing I can do." Kotori told him. "Not even Utopia can get me out of the mess I'm in."_

_Astral shook his head. "As long as there is hope, there are endless possibilities. All you have to do is believe. Even the situation you're in now… can be changed."_

_"Well… okay." Kotori responded. "I'll try."_

_"I know you can win, Kotori." Astral told her. "I have hope… in you."_

_And with that, Kotori was enveloped in another flash of light._

* * *

Kotori found herself back in the duel as though no time at all had passed. It still seemed to Kotori that there was no way out of her predicament. But she decided to believe in what Astral had told her and keep going. After taking a deep breath and closing her eyes, Kotori drew her next card. The card she pulled from the deck gave off a brief flash of golden light. When Kotori finally looked at the card, she let out a small gasp.

"Will you just get on with it already?" Samantha told Kotori as she impatiently tapped her foot. "I've got other things I could be doing right now, like screwing Yuma."

This caused Kotori to glare at Samantha and renewed her resolve. "I summon Gemini Elf in Attack Mode!" The two elf girls materialized on Kotori's side of the battlefield. "Next I activate Monster Reborn and summon Gagaga Magician from the Graveyard!" The silver-haired magician reappeared next to the elf duo. "Using my level four Gemini Elf and Gagaga Magician, I build the overlay network and Xyz Summon Number 39: Utopia!"

A vortex in the form of a galaxy appeared in the middle of the battlefield and pulled in Kotori's two monsters as balls of golden energy. Rising out of the vortex a moment later was a familiar large white sword with two balls of gold light orbiting around it. The sword unfolded and took the form of the warrior Number.

"So you finally summoned Utopia." Samantha observed. "Too bad his effects are useless."

"I activate Rank-Up-Magic Numeron Force!" Kotori announced, startling Samantha. "With this card I use Utopia to rebuild the overlay network and Xyz Summon Number C39: Utopia Ray Victory!"

Utopia's armor then began to grow and change shape. The armor covering his arms had turned red, while his shoulder armor had grown larger and more pointed. He had also gained a second pair of arms covered in the same red armor as his main pair, and in all four hands he carried a sword with a golden handle. Utopia's wings had become golden and blade-like, and his golden face had gained what looked like a mouth. Three balls of blue light were now orbiting around the warrior.

"Big deal." Flash scoffed. "Tiger Monarch's effect still makes that Number of yours worthless."

"Except when Numeron Force is activated, it also negates the effects of all other cards on the field!" Kotori revealed.

"Say what?" Flash exclaimed.

"Utopia's new form is a hundred points stronger than Tiger Monarch anyway, you dumbass!" an irritated Samantha told him.

"I attack Tiger Monarch with Utopia Ray Victory!" Kotori announced. "And during the battle I detach one of Utopia's overlay units to have him gain Tiger Monarch's ATK during the battle! Hope Sword Victory Slash!"

As one of the balls of light orbiting Utopia Ray Victory vanished, the warrior slashed Tiger Monarch to ribbons with his four swords. The fragments of the tiger warrior shattered, and the few life points Flash had remaining dropped to zero. With the duel finally at an end, Utopia Ray Victory vanished and the surrounding area returned to normal. Flash turned to Samantha with a look of panic on his face.

"I-I'm sorry, mistress." Flash told him.

Samantha merely gritted her teeth and fired a beam of crimson light from the palm of her hand. Flash was hit by the light and vanished without a trace. A moment later, a red orb appeared in Samantha's hand.

"Is… is that Flash?" Kotori asked.

"Yeah, he's in here." Samantha confirmed.

"What're you going to do to him?" Kotori asked.

"Nothing he's gonna like." Samantha answered as she caused the orb to vanish. "This isn't over, by the way."

With that, a vortex in the form of a galaxy appeared behind Samantha. The redhead turned into particles of light and vanished through the portal, which closed as soon as she was gone. Kotori let out a heavy sigh and decided to get off the roof. She was thankful that the school day was over. By the time Kotori finally exited the building, she spotted Anna waiting by the front gate.

"Hi Anna." Kotori greeted as she walked over.

"Oh, you're… Mezuki, right?" Anna recalled. "I've seen you a few times before in the halls."

"Uh, yeah. That's right." Kotori confirmed. She realized that Anna didn't remember who she was due to Mitaka's spell over the city. "So what're you doing?"

"Not that it's any of your business, but I'm waiting for my date." Anna answered.

"Oh, you have a boyfriend now?" Kotori asked.

"It's a little too soon to call him that, but it is a guy I'm interested in." Anna answered.

"Hey Anna." A familiar voice spoke. Kotori turned around and was startled to see Yuma.

"It's about time you showed up." Anna told him.

"Sorry. I was being chewed out by a teacher for something." Yuma explained as he rubbed the back of his head. He then noticed Kotori standing there. "Oh hi. You're that girl I ran into the other day. Kotori, wasn't it?"

"Um… yeah." Kotori confirmed. "So, um… are you the person who Anna was waiting for?"

"Yep. She and I are going out on sort of a date." Yuma confirmed. On hearing this, Kotori felt like she had been punched in the chest.

"C'mon Yuma, let's get going." Anna told him.

"Uh, right." Yuma replied. "Well Kotori, it was nice running into you again."

With that, Anna and Yuma walked out of the gate. As soon as they were out of sight, Kotori dropped to her knees. It had become all too much for her to take at that moment. It was bad enough that Yuma didn't remember who she was that the Mitaka was trying to kill her and make Yuma her sex slave. But she never imagined the possibility that Yuma might decide to try dating anyone else while under Mitaka's spell. Completely overwhelmed by what was happening, Kotori broke down in tears.

"Kotori?" a familiar voice spoke from behind. Kotori looked back and saw Droite standing behind her. "Everything okay?"

Kotori only responded by breaking down again. Droite went over and helped her to her feet.

"C'mon. Let's get you back to the tower." Droite told the green-haired girl as she guided her to her car.

* * *

Samantha emerged from her portal in the basement room of Heartland Academy that she was using as a base. She found Chitose sitting at the table reading a book.

The dark-haired girl looked up from her book when she heard Samantha come in. "So, did the pawn you recruited succeed?"

"No, the dumbass didn't succeed." Samantha told her. "Somehow the Envoy of Astral World is lending her a helping hand. It didn't help either that the guy I used to try and take her out was an idiot. It's too bad too, since he's pretty good in the shower."

"If Astral World's envoy is really lending Mezuki assistance, then it seems will need to take stronger measures against her." Chitose observed.

"Why not let me take her out then?" suggested a voice from a dark corner of the room. Samantha and Chitose looked to see Alice stepping into the light. "Mezuki should be no problem for me. And while I'm at it, I can bag Tsukumo for you too."

"Ah sure, what the hell?" Samantha agreed. "That his kinda why I hired you girls. Go nuts, Alice."

"You've got nothing to worry about, Sammy." Alice assured her. "That Numeron Code you want will be in your hands in no time.

* * *

**Author's Note:** I keep forgetting to mention that the mark used for the Rune Mystic monsters (the first of which we've just seen in this chapter) and the curse mark on Yuma's chest is the same symbol used for the cover art of this story. I don't know if anyone figured that out or not.

Please review and let me know what you think.


	5. The Coven

**Disclaimer:** I do not own Yu-Gi-Oh! ZEXAL.

* * *

Chapter 5: The Coven

By the time Droite and Kotori got to Heartland Tower, Kotori had calmed down just enough to tell the butterfly duelist about the latest developments with Yuma. She told her that the only way for Yuma to be saved was for someone other than Samantha to get it on with him, and that Yuma had just gone out on a date with Anna. When Kotori finished her story, Droite had her take a nap in one of the rooms at the tower and went down to the lab where Kaito, Vector and Alit were waiting for her. Once there, Droite told Kaito and the others what Kotori had just told her.

"Oh man! This is messed up in so many ways!" Alit declared after Droite finished her little briefing.

"I don't think any of us expected these Death Queens to pull anything like this." Kaito spoke. "Fixing all this is going to be a whole lot harder than we thought, and we don't have a lot of time to work."

"You know, things might end up fixing themselves on their own." Vector interjected. "With Anna in the picture, she might just end up breaking the curse for us."

"That's no way to solve anything!" Droite told him. "Let's say Yuma did have sex with Anna to break the curse and got his memory back. Yuma would be devastated for betraying Kotori, and Kotori's heart would be in pieces."

"Besides Vector, I wouldn't wish that psycho, Anna on anyone." Alit told him.

"Oh yeah, Shark mentioned that you and Anna dated once about a year ago." Kaito recalled.

"It was one date, and it lasted barely a minute!" Alit revealed. "All I did was make some harmless little joke about how she seemed to like pink, and the next thing I know she's chasing me through the city on that cannon of hers trying to blow my head off!"

"The way I see, the only way for us to fix things is to get Kotori and Yuma together somehow." Droite told them.

"I agree. But the question is how." Kaito replied.

"Whatever it we, we'll need to do it pretty quick." Alit told them. "If the curse doesn't get Yuma, Samantha or Anna will."

"At the very least, we should try to keep an eye on Yuma and try and keep him from doing anything stupid." Kaito decided. "And considering who we're talking about, there's a pretty high risk of that happening."

"We should also try and back up Kotori as best we can." Droite added. "Right now, she's the only major threat to Mitaka's plan. She'll try and come after her again."

"Then we better get started." Kaito decided. "I'm sure from here on out, things are only going to get harder."

* * *

It was the start of another rainy day at Heartland Academy as Yuma headed for the classroom. He was in a fairly good mood, despite the lingering concern about the mark on his chest. The rash around it seemed like it had spread some during the night. Despite the strange mark though, things seemed to be going well for. Yuma had actually enjoyed his date with Anna the previous afternoon. Though Anna had a short fuse, Yuma found that she was actually quite fun to be around. Yet while he had enjoyed his date with Anna, Yuma couldn't help but feel that something was wrong.

"Excuse me, Yuma." A voice spoke from behind. Yuma turned around to see Alice standing behind him.

"Oh, you're um… Alice Kono, right?" Yuma identified.

"Right you are." The white-haired girl confirmed. "I've been wanting to talk to you for days now, and this is the first chance I've had."

"What do you want to talk to me about?" Yuma asked.

"Well, actually what I want to talk to you about is a bit… well private." Alice told him. "Do you think you could meet me in the auditorium later after lunch?"

"Um, I guess I could do that." Yuma agreed.

"Great! I'll be waiting." Alice told him before giving him a peck on the cheek and leaving.

Yuma blushed a bit and touched the kiss as Alice had kissed as he watched her leave. It seemed to him that he was getting much more attention from the ladies of his school, which was something that was completely new to him, as no girl had ever been interested in him before. Yuma was snapped from his thoughts by the sound of his friend, Tetsuo calling him to the classroom. Brushing off the earlier encounter with Alice, Yuma hurried off to class.

* * *

Kotori was in poor spirits as she walked into the school. Her mind was still very much on the thought of Yuma and Anna together, perhaps doing the very thing that was supposed to save Yuma's life. Kotori thought that perhaps it might be for the best though. After all, Yuma didn't even remember who she was, and the chance that he would be willing to jump into bed with a total stranger didn't seem likely to her. What mattered most to Kotori was saving Yuma's life, and if that meant letting Anna take him and not her, Kotori felt that she might be willing to stand by and let that happen.

By the time Kotori got to her shoe locker, she found a note sticking out of it. Kotori immediately pulled out that note and read its contents.

_'To my dear Ms. Mezuki, please come to the school auditorium as soon as you're done with lunch. There's something I wish to discuss with you, and it involves Yuma Tsukumo. It is very important that you come and see me about this, and even more important that you come alone. Sincerely, a friend.'_

Needless to say, Kotori found the note to be quite suspicious. She thought about telling Droite about it, but after a moment decided against it. Kotori didn't want to scare this person off if he or she really did have something important to tell her about Yuma. Perhaps it was another ally that she didn't even know she had, and she knew she could use all the allies she could get. After carefully disposing of the note, Kotori headed for class and waited for the time of the meeting.

* * *

The rain had only just cleared as Yuma headed across the school ground to the auditorium. He found that he really wanted to know what it was that Alice wanted to talk to him about. As Yuma came near the auditorium, he found Kaito standing in his path. The photon duelist merely glared at Yuma as he stood there with his arms crossed.

"Um, hi there." Yuma greeted. "Do I know you?"

"Right now you don't know me, but I do know you." Kaito answered. "Where are you off to right now."

"Well, not that it's really your business, but I'm off to meet someone in the auditorium." Yuma answered. "She says she has something important to talk to me about."

"Is the girl you're going to meet Anna Kozuki?" Kaito asked.

"Um, no actually." Yuma answered. "Wait, how do you know Anna? Who are you, anyway?"

"Orbital, knock him out." Kaito ordered.

Before Yuma could respond, Orbital 7 rolled up behind Yuma and shocked him in the back with a stun gun attachment built into his right arm. Upon being shocked, Yuma fell to the ground face-first. Kaito watched for a moment as the body of his younger friend twitched on the ground.

"That should keep him out for a bit." Kaito assumed.

"M-Master Kaito. Why didn't you just t-tell Yuma what's really going on?" Orbital 7 asked.

"Because I really doubt he'd believe me." Kaito answered. "And I get the feeling that we don't have the time to try and convince him right now. There's something about him meeting someone at the auditorium that's bothering me."

"What should we do?" the robot asked.

"Stay here and keep an eye on Yuma." Kaito ordered. "And try to stay out of sight. Hopefully when I return, we can take Yuma back to the tower and start trying to convince him of how things are really supposed to be."

* * *

Kotori entered the auditorium to find the whole building dimly lit. As she walked in, she quickly heard the sound of moaning coming from the direction of the stage. She looked and saw Alice pinned against the back wall of the stage by a fully clothed young man with pale-green hair under a spotlight. The only article of clothing that Alice had on was a short pink silk robe that was open in the front. Her legs were wrapped tightly around the young man's waist as he plowed into her.

Blushing, Kotori found her eyes glued to the stage as Alice and the young man reached their climax. After a moment, the young man withdrew himself and put down Alice before zipping up his pants.

"Thank you, Genta. That will be all for now." Alice told him as she closed her robe.

The young man merely left the stage with a blank expression on his face. Alice meanwhile noticed Kotori and grinned.

"Ah! There you are, Mezuki." Alice greeted. "I was hoping that you would show up. Though I was hoping that dear Yuma would get here before you did. Then again I am running a little behind schedule, as you just saw."

"What do you want?" Kotori asked.

"Why to kill you, of course." Alice answered, as if it were obvious. "I was hoping for you to see me and Yuma getting it on before I killed you of course, but getting rid of you before Yuma arrives will work just as well."

"But why do you want to kill me?" Kotori asked. Then in an instant the answer came to her. "Are you working with Mitaka?"

"Very good." Alice confirmed. "Although I call her Sammy, but yes. I'm part of the little coven she put together to help her take Yuma, and the Numeron Code along with him."

"But why?" Kotori asked.

"Well, I actually have had my eye on Yuma for some time now." Alice admitted. "He's actually quite attractive in his own way. And as a duelist he's actually not bad. I actually tried to approach him once after he won the World Duel Carnival years ago, but he didn't even notice that I existed. How he could overlook a goddess like me for some nobody like you is beyond me. But that little problem has changed thanks to Sammy's little spell. Once Yuma arrives, I'm going to give him the ride of his life."

"I'm afraid your little meeting with Yuma is canceled!" a voice interrupted. Alice and Kotori looked to see Kaito standing near the back of the auditorium.

"Kaito Tenjo!" Alice identified. "What the hell are you doing here?"

"I stopped Yuma from coming here and decided to see who he was meeting." Kaito explained as he walked towards the stage. "So Mitaka has recruited some followers to help her out. I guess I shouldn't be surprised."

"I don't know how you still know about Sammy and Yuma, but I'm not going to let you ruin anything!" Alice declared.

"Kotori. Let me handle this girl." Kaito requested. "I get the feeling that you could use a little break from dueling."

"Okay." Kotori agreed. "Be careful."

As Kaito walked up onto the stage, Alice put on a purple D-Gazer and duel disk that she had earlier placed on a little wooden table. Kaito meanwhile activated his D-Gazer tattoo and his black coat and pants turned white. Kotori took a seat in one of the auditorium chairs and switched on her own D-Gazer to watch.

"I'll go first!" Kaito declared as he drew his first card. "I set one card on the field. Then I summon Photon Crusher in Attack Mode!"

Appearing on Kaito's side of the battlefield was a warrior covered in bulky green and white futuristic armor. He had a single glowing red eye, and in his left hand he carried a large grey double-sided club.

"That ends my turn." Kaito announced.

Alice drew her first card. "I activate the Spell, Polymerization! I fuse two Cyber Dragons in my hand to summon Cyber Twin Dragon!"

A small vortex appeared in the air above the stage, and appearing on the field were two silver mechanical dragons with serpent-like bodies. Both dragons flew up into the vortex, and dropping out of it onto the field a moment later was a new mechanical dragon with two heads and a serpent-like body.

"A Cyber Dragon deck?" Kaito observed with a quirk of his brow. "I have to admit I'm a little impressed. Though I'm surprised you're not using an Xyz deck of some kind."

"Then I guess I shouldn't disappoint you." Alice replied. "I activate the Spell card, De-Fusion! With this card I split Cyber Twin Dragon back into the two Cyber Dragons that created it!" With that, Cyber Twin Dragon glowed with a white light and split back into the two robotic dragons from before. "And now I use my two level five Cyber Dragons to Xyz Summon Cyber Dragon Nova!"

A swirling orange vortex appeared in the middle of the stage and pulled in the two Cyber Dragons as balls of orange energy. Rising out of the vortex a moment later was a new mechanical dragon with a black head and a mostly silver serpent-like body. On the sides of a black torso that contained a glowing orange orb it had two large metal silver and black wings. Orbiting around the dragon were two balls made of orange light.

"A Cyber Dragon Xyz Monster?" a stunned Kaito exclaimed.

"But why give up Cyber Twin Dragon to summon that?" Kotori wondered. "This monster has the same 2100 ATK as the regular Cyber Dragon."

"And now I use Cyber Dragon Nova to rebuild the overlay network and Xyz Summon a monster one Rank higher!" Alice announced. "Arise, Cyber Dragon Infinity!"

A red vortex appeared in the middle of the field and pulled in the black and silver mechanical dragon as a ball of red energy. A moment later the dragon rose out of the vortex in a new and larger form. It had a sleeker build and the side of its silver body had turned black. A row of golden spines ran down the length of its back all the way to the end of its massively long tail, which seemed to have an almost satellite dish-like weapon with gold spikes attached. The sides of its head had gained golden horns, and it had a silver face with four glowing orange eyes. Above its two massive metal wings were two golden fin-like blades, which were beside a pair of large blade-like fins on its back. Its torso contained a large glowing red orb, and orbiting around the dragon were three balls of red light.

"I activate Cyber Dragon Infinity's effect!" Alice announced. "Once per turn I can select a monster on the field in Attack Mode and attach it to Cyber Dragon Infinity as an overlay unit! And of course the monster I choose is Photon Crusher!"

Cyber Dragon Infinity fired four orange beams from its eyes that struck Photon Crusher in the chest. Photon Crusher turned into a ball of red light and was pulled into Cyber Dragon Infinity's orbit.

"It's like Shark's Silent Honor ARK!" Kaito exclaimed.

"Cyber Dragon Infinity gains 200 ATK for each of its overlay units." Alice continued. "Which means its ATK goes up from 2100 to 2900. Cyber Dragon Infinity, attack him directly! Infinity Burst Stream!"

"I activate my Trap, Negate Attack!" Kaito quickly announced.

Cyber Dragon Infinity opened its mouth and fired a swirling blast of red energy at Kaito. At the last moment, a vortex appeared in front of the photon duelist and sucked the energy in.

"Well then, I guess I'll set one card on the field and end my turn." Alice announced. "Alright Tenjo, since I'm sure I've just given you a thrill by summoning my Cyber Dragon Infinity, how 'bout you return the favor by summoning that infamous Photon Dragon of yours?"

"Are you really that eager to see my dragon?" Kaito asked.

"Oh I don't just want to see it. I want to crush it." Alice told him. "Nothing pleases me more than grinding my opponent's strongest monster under my foot."

"Be careful what you wish for, because you're about to get it!" Kaito declared as he drew his next card. "I activate the Spell card, Luminous Dragon Ritual! From my hand I sacrifice the level four Photon Thrasher to Ritual Summon the Paladin of Photon Dragon!"

A warrior with a single red eye and a grey mask carrying a sword appeared on Kaito's side of the field, only to be enveloped in a burst of purple flames. Appearing in the warrior's place was a knight covered in silver armor and wearing a blue cape riding the back of a small purple dragon with yellow eyes and glowing blue transparent wings. In his right hand, the warrior carried a silver two-pointed spear.

"And now I activate Paladin of Photon Dragon's effect!" Kaito announced. "By sacrificing my Paladin, I can summon from deck the ultimate beast of light!"

With that, the paladin raised his spear in the air and he and his mount ignited into a swirling vortex of white flames. Appearing in Kaito's hand was a large red cross-shaped blade with a blue gemstone on the front.

"Arise, Galaxy-Eyes Photon Dragon!" Kaito called as he threw the cross.

The cross went into the flaming white vortex, triggering a massive explosion of light. The light died down to was a large dragon with a mainly purple body. In the center of its chest was the same gem from the cross that Kaito had thrown. Swirling around in its glowing blue eyes was the image of a galaxy.

"Now we're talking." Alice declared.

"I'm not done yet!" Kaito told her. "I summon Galaxy Falcon in Attack Mode!"

Flying down to join Photon Dragon was a silver mechanical falcon with yellow eyes and a blue spherical orb in the center of its chest. A pair of smaller yellow orbs were embedded in its wings.

"I activate Galaxy Falcon's effect!" Kaito announced. "Since I have another Galaxy monster on the field, I can double Galaxy Falcon's level from four to eight. But because I used this effect, I can only Xyz Summon Light monster for the rest of the turn."

"Wait, why are you performing an Xyz Summon?" Alice asked.

"You said you wanted my ultimate monster, well now you're going to get it!" Kaito told her. "Using Galaxy-Eyes Photon Dragon and Galaxy Falcon, I build the overlay network and Xyz Summon my dragon's true form!"

With that, a vortex in the form of a galaxy appeared in the middle of the battlefield and pulled in Kaito's monsters into two balls of blue energy. Suddenly Kaito's white outfit began to glow a brilliant blue.

"Arise, Number 62: Galaxy-Eyes Prime Photon Dragon!" Kaito called.

Rising out of the vortex as a large blue sword with red alien writing engraved on the blade, and a glowing blue orb embedded just above the handle. The orb flashed and the sword transformed into a newly evolved Photon Dragon. His body glowed with a blue light, and he had black armor covering his arms. Growing from his back behind his wings were two more long tails. On the upper part of the dragon's left glowing wing in red alien writing was the number 62. Orbiting around the dragon were two balls made of blue light.

"Okay, that is impressive." Alice admitted.

"I activate Prime Photon Dragon's effect and increase the Ranks of all monsters on the field by one!" Kaito announced. "And when Prime Photon Dragon attacks a monster, he gains ATK equal to the combined Ranks of all monster on the field times 200 during the battle!"

_'If this attack gets through, Kaito wins!'_ Kotori mentally realized.

"Prime Photon Dragon, attack Cyber Dragon Infinity and end this!" Kaito commanded. "Eternal Photon Stream!"

Prime Photon Dragon opened his jaws and fired a massive blast of blue light. Cyber Dragon Infinity was hit and exploded in a massive burst of fire and smoke. When the smoke cleared though, Alice still had 3800 life points.

"What? How's that possible?" a stunned Kaito asked.

At this, Alice grinned. "When you attacked I activated my Trap, Nutrient Z. Since I was going to take more than 2000 points of damage from that battle, Nutrient Z boosted my life points by 4000 to help minimize the damage. So Tenjo, what're you going to do now?"

Kaito gritted his teeth in frustration. "I set one card face-down and end my turn!"

Alice drew her next card. "You've really exceeded my expectations with that Number of yours, Tenjo. It's going to make grinding you underneath my heel all the more enjoyable. I activate the Spell card, Rank-Up-Magic Rune Revival! With this card, I can take a Rank five or higher monster from my Graveyard and use it to Xyz Summon a Rune Mystic monster of the same attribute and one Rank higher! So I revive Cyber Dragon Infinity and use it to Xyz Summon Rune Mystic Cyber Drake!"

The glowing orange symbol of the Rune Mystic monsters appeared on the ground and released a massive pillar of orange light into the air. The light died down to reveal Cyber Dragon Infinity in a new form. The silver parts of its body had turned gold and it had gained two extra heads. On the forehead of its original head glowed the symbol of the Rune Mystic monsters. The lower half of its body had gained a second tail, and attached to the two golden fin blades where shoulders might be were two small golden arms.

"And now, Kaito Tenjo," Alice continued, "watch as I reduce your ultimate monster to nothing."

* * *

**Author's Note:** There was actually a fair bit of difficulty writing this duel because I've never used Kaito's Photon monsters in a duel. It also didn't help that the effects of a lot of Kaito's cards differ vastly between the anime and the real world. In fact in many ways the anime versions seem worse.

Please review and let me know what you think.


	6. Dark Matter Dragon

**Disclaimer:** I do not own Yu-Gi-Oh! ZEXAL.

* * *

Chapter 6: Dark Matter Dragon

Orbital 7 kept a silent vigil over Yuma's unconscious form, every now and then looking around to see if Kaito was returning. After several minutes, the robot finally did see someone coming towards him and Yuma, but it wasn't Kaito. It was Anna. Remembering Kaito's orders to stay out of sight, Orbital 7 panicked and quickly hid in a nearby bush. Anna did not once notice the robot, but quickly noticed Yuma facedown on the ground.

"Hey! Yuma!" Anna called as she prodded the young man with the toe of her shoe. After a moment, Yuma finally woke up. "You okay?"

"Yeah… I think so." Yuma answered as he slowly got back to his feet.

"What the hell happened to you?" a concerned Anna asked.

"I'm not really sure." Yuma answered as he cracked his neck. "First I ran into this weird guy who said he knew me, then something shocked me in the back."

"Shocked you?" Anna repeated. "You mean like a stun gun?"

"I think so." Yuma replied.

"Well c'mon. Let's get you inside so you can sit this off." Anna told him.

With that, Anna began to escort Yuma back to the school. As the two left, Orbital 7 extended his cord-like neck out of the bush and silently watched them go. Once again the robot went into a silent panic. He knew that when Kaito got, he was probably going to throw him into a trash compactor for letting Yuma slip away.

* * *

"I activate the Spell card, Rune Reload!" Alice announced. "With this card, I can attach two Spell cards from my hand or Graveyard to a Rune Mystic monster as overlay units. So I'll just take Polymerization and De-Fusion from the Graveyard and attach them to Cyber Drake!"

Two balls of light flew from the Graveyard slot of Alice's duel disk and changed into red fireballs. The fireballs were then drawn into Cyber Drake's orbit.

"And now I shall show you just how easily that Photon Dragon of yours can be crushed." Alice continued. "I activate Cyber Drake's first effect! Once per turn I can take one of my opponent's monsters and attach it to Cyber Drake as an overlay unit. And the monster I choose of course is Prime Photon Dragon!"

Cyber Drake fired beams of red light from the twelve eyes on all three of its heads. The beams hit Prime Photon Dragon in the chest and changed him into a ball of red fire that was pulled into Cyber Drake's orbit. With Kaito's Number consumed, his clothes stopped giving off their blue light.

"And there you have it. Any monster, no matter how powerful, is nothing before the power of my Cyber Drake." Alice confidently declared. "Just like any man, no matter how strong his will, is powerless before me. You are no different, Tenjo. I'll crush you as easily as I crushed your little dragon."

"I never thought I'd meet anyone more arrogant than Mizael." Kaito remarked. "But at least Mizael has honor, unlike you!"

"Say whatever you wish. It makes no difference to me." Alice indifferently replied. "I summon Proto-Cyber Dragon in Attack Mode!"

Appearing on Alice's side of the battlefield was a mechanical creature with a snake-like body made from metal cylinders connected by flexible mechanical joints. The head of this creature had a simple jaw and two small round orange eyes connected by cables that fed into the back of the neck.

"I activate the second of Cyber Drake's effects!" Alice announced. "By detaching an overlay unit, I can banish monsters from my field or Graveyard to Fusion Summon a Cyber monster! So I detach Prime Photon Dragon and then banish the Cyber Dragons in my Graveyard along with Proto-Cyber Dragon to summon Cyber End Dragon!"

Cyber Drake moved to get behind Proto-Cyber Dragon and the ball of fire that was once Prime Photon Dragon entered the large red sphere embedded in the center of its chest. The three-headed robot dragon fired a blast of red light from the sphere at Proto-Cyber Dragon. The incomplete dragon robot melted down into a pile of molten red metal that formed into a vortex. The ghostly forms of the two Cyber Dragons from earlier in the duel appeared and went into the vortex. A blast of red light then shot up from the vortex into the air, fading after a moment to reveal a new mechanical dragon.

Like Cyber Drake, the beast had three heads. Each of the three heads was distinctly different from the other. Its right head was like that of a snake with two large round green eyes, while the left head had a pair of red spherical eyes and two curved spikes on the sides of its jaw. The center head had two small yellow eyes and a large jaw with several sharp teeth. The two large blade-like wings on its back had two large blue spheres embedded in them, and a third sphere was embedded in the center of its chest.

"Oh no!" Kotori exclaimed as she rose from her seat.

"Cyber Drake gains 1000 ATK for every Cyber monster I control, which means his ATK is now 3600. Of course he can't attack during the turn I use this effect." Alice continued. "But Cyber End Dragon's 4000 ATK is just enough to finish you off in one blow. Cyber End Dragon, attack Tenjo directly! Enteral Evolution Burst!"

Cyber End Dragon fired blasts of blue-green light from the mouths of all three of its head. The blasts merged together into a single attack and struck Kaito, creating a massive explosion. When the smoke cleared though, Kaito was still standing and his life points had only fallen to 2000.

"What! How do you still have life points?" Alice demanded to know.

"When you attacked, I discarded Kuriphoton from my hand and paid half my life points to negate the damage I would've taken." Kaito explained. "Losing 2000 life points is better than losing 4000."

"Well, it seems you're a lot tougher than I thought." Alice observed. "But no matter. No matter what you do, you'll still be crushed under my heel in the end. I'll set a card on the field and end my turn."

Kaito drew his next card. "You're going to regret detaching my dragon like it was just another overlay unit! I activate the Spell card, Xyz Revenge! With this card I revive Prime Photon Dragon from the Graveyard and attach one of Cyber Drake's overlay units to him!"

A black vortex appeared in the middle of the battlefield and Prime Photon Dragon rose out of it. As soon as Prime Photon Dragon returned, Kaito's outfit regained its previous blue light. One of the fireballs orbiting around Cyber Drake changed into a ball of blue light and was pulled into Prime Photon Dragon's orbit.

Suddenly Alice began to laugh. "You foolish boy! Did you really think I'd have detached Prime Photon Dragon from Cyber Drake before if I didn't have a contingency plan for this? I activate the Continuous Trap, Rune Chain!"

Suddenly several red chains burst up from the ground in a circle around Prime Photon Dragon and wrapped themselves around the dragon's torso and upper arms. The glowing orange symbol of the Rune Mystic monsters then appeared beneath Prime Photon Dragon's feet.

"Since you special summoned a monster while I have a Rune Mystic monster on the field, Rune Chain prevents that monster from attacking or using its effects." Alice explained. "The chain only goes away when the monster it's binding leaves the field or uses it as an overlay unit. Now on my next turn, I'll simply turn your dragon back into an overlay unit for Cyber Drake and attack you directly."

"You won't be getting a next turn!" Kaito told her. "It seems you've left me no choice but to summon the other powerful Number at my disposal."

"What are you talking about?" Alice asked.

"Among the Numbers there is a third Galaxy-Eyes monster, one that's the complete opposite of Prime Photon Dragon." Kaito explained. "While Prime Photon Dragon is the dragon of light, the other monster I speak of is the dragon of darkness. And now that the light has been stopped, it must give way to darkness! Using Prime Photon Dragon, I rebuild the overlay units and Xyz Summon a Number that's one Rank higher! A Number that strikes fear in the hearts of all who see it!"

A vortex in the form of a galaxy appeared on the battlefield and the chains binding Prime Photon Dragon shattered. The glowing dragon turned into a ball of purple energy and was pulled in. In an instant, the blue light emanating from Kaito changed into a black darkness that showed the stars of space. The photon duelist's body began giving off a powerful purple aura. Just then, a small black vortex that crackled with black electricity rose out of the galaxy.

"Awaken, Number 95: Galaxy-Eyes Dark Matter Dragon!" Kaito commanded.

The black hole changed into a pitch-black cloud that began to grow in size. A pair of massive wings burst from the sides of the cloud, and the top of it formed into a head with two small eyes and mouth filled with large white fangs. The bottom half of the creature changed into a trail of black mist that split into two heads that looked like tormented lost souls. The number 95 appeared on the beast's torso in dark-green alien writing. Orbiting around the wicked dragon were two balls of purple light.

All the color drained from Alice's face upon seeing Kaito's new dragon, but after a moment her confident smirk returned. "I'll admit that's quite the dragon you've summoned, but it only has 4000 ATK. It might be stronger than Cyber Drake, but not stronger than my Cyber End Dragon."

"When Dark Matter Dragon is Xyz Summoned, I can send three Dragon monsters from my deck to banish three cards from my opponent's deck!" Kaito announced. "The monsters I send to the Graveyard to use this effect are Galaxy Dragon, Photon Wyvern and Galaxy-Eyes Cloud Dragon!"

As soon as Kaito inserted the three cards into his Graveyard slot, one of the lost spirits that emanated from Dark Matter Dragon flew down and struck Alice's deck before vanishing. Soon after, three random cards in Alice's deck turned black and flew out, seeming to vanish from existence.

"And just what good is that effect supposed to do?" Alice asked.

"I activate the Trap I placed face-down earlier, Banishment Curse!" Kaito announced. "When a card effect banishes one or more of my opponent's cards, all of my opponent's monsters lose 700 ATK for each banished card!"

Upon the activation of Kaito's Trap, both of Alice's mechanical dragons turned completely grey and began to give off a strong black aura. Cyber End Dragon's ATK dropped to 1900, while Cyber Drake's ATK fell to a mere 1500.

"I now activate Dark Matter Dragon's effect!" Kaito announced. "By detaching an overlay unit, Dark Matter Dragon can make two attacks on monsters during this turn!"

One of the balls of light caught in Dark Matter Dragon's orbit entered its mouth. Once again all the color drained from Alice's face.

"If… if I take two attacks now…" a horrified Alice spoke.

"I could've used Dark Matter Dragon's effect without activating my Trap." Kaito revealed. "You forget that Dark Matter Dragon can only be destroyed by another Number, which means it would've been unharmed if I attacked Cyber End without lowering its ATK. But I'm not going to show you any mercy! Dark Matter Dragon, destroy her monsters and end this duel! Dark Matter Storm of Destruction!"

Two streams of black mist shot from Dark Matter Dragon's mouth and struck both of Alice's mechanical dragons. Cyber End Dragon and Cyber Drake exploded upon being hit, and the resulting blast knocked Alice to the ground and reduced her life points to zero. With the duel over, Dark Matter Dragon vanished and the auditorium returned to normal. Kaito's outfit resumed its original appearance and his D-Gazer tattoo vanished. As Kotori ran up onto the stage, Kaito walked over to check on Alice.

"Is… is she in a coma?" Kotori asked. "Like those psychic duelists that Anitak sent after Shark and the others?"

"Quite possibly." Kaito answered. "I'll have to check her over to be sure. But I wouldn't be surprised if Mitaka gave the same penalty to her followers for losing."

"That was a pretty close duel you fought against Alice." Kotori remarked. "That other dragon you used at the end kind of freaked me out."

"The truth is… the form of Number 95 represents the darkest part of myself." Kaito revealed. "I happened to find it as a blank card when I first started my Number hunting days. Because it was blank, it ended up taking a form that was a reflection of who I was. I never dared to use until today because it represented the worst part of me."

"But that's not who you are anymore." Kotori told him. "I'm sure that Yuma would say the same thing."

"Maybe. But Astral gave it back to me all the same." Kaito replied. "I can't help but think that he gave me Number 95 to remind me who I was and all the evil I committed, both as a Number Hunter and as Droite's consort during the Morphia incident."

"I don't believe that." Kotori told him. "Astral gave you that Number because he knew you're the best person to use it. Maybe that Number really is based on the evil that used to be inside you, but I know that you can use it for good."

"Thanks." Kaito replied as the ghost of a smile briefly appeared on his face. "Now let's go. On the way here I ran into Yuma and had Orbital knock him out so we can take him back to the tower. Hopefully we can find a way to break the spell that's blocking his true memories."

"What about Alice?" Kotori asked.

"I'll send Orbital to get her later." Kaito replied.

With that, Kaito and Kotori left the auditorium. Outside they soon found Orbital 7 waiting for them on the path. Knowing his robotic sidekick as he did, Kaito noticed that Orbital 7 seemed very nervous. He also noticed that Yuma was not where he had left them. Kaito and Kotori stopped directly in front of the robot.

"Orbital, where's Yuma?" Kaito asked as he crossed his arms.

"I-I-I-I-I was only following your orders, M-M-Master Kaito." Orbital 7 answered. The fact that the robot was stuttering far more than usual told Kaito that Obrital was quite terrified. "Y-you said to stay out of sight, and well… someone started to come by, so I hid."

"And you left Yuma out in the open?" Kaito asked.

"Y-y-yes sir." Orbital 7 answered. "T-the person who came by was… Anna Kozuki. She woke Yuma up and… t-took him back into the school."

On hearing this, Kaito's hands clenched into fists at his side. "So let me get this straight, Orbital," Kaito began in the calmest voice he could manage, "you hid and let Yuma walk away with one of the two people we didn't want him being within fifty feet of?"

"Um… yes?" Orbital responded.

"Dammit!" Kaito cursed. It took every fiber of restraint he had not to slam his fist into the top of Orbital's head.

"So… does that mean that Yuma's with Anna right now?" a worried Kotori asked.

"Don't worry, Kotori. We'll find a way to fix this." Kaito assured her before turning back to the robot. "And Orbital, if we lose Yuma to Anna or Mitaka, I'm going to take you apart and rebuild you into an outhouse!"

"Y-yes sir." Orbital 7 replied in a high voice as he gave a trembling salute.

* * *

Samantha stood in her basement lair at the school before a large orb that was floating above the table. The orb showed an image of Kaito and Kotori talking to Orbital 7. With a wave of Samantha's hand, the orb went dark and vanished from the room. The redhead plopped herself into the nearest chair with a discouraged expression on her face. At that moment, Chitose walked down into the basement.

"From your mood, I take it that the member of your coven that you sent after Mezuki failed in her mission." Chitose deduced.

"Kaito Tenjo interfered." Samantha revealed. "It seems that before I cast my spell over the city, the Envoy managed to give him a few of his Numbers too."

"That is indeed troubling." Chitose replied. "Tenjo is a formidable duelist, and very skilled using Numbers. He could cause some major problems for us."

"It's bad enough that we still have to deal with a couple of Don Thousand's old pawns." Samantha told her. "Their 10X Numbers would've prevented my spell from working on them too."

"I'm surprised you didn't wait to strike until all seven of the former emperors left the city." Chitose pointed out.

"Hey, I couldn't wait for all of them to leave town." Samantha told her. "Besides, two of those old pawns should be easy enough for us to handle ourselves. But Tenjo, he's dangerous. We'll either have to tag team him, or call Alnia to ask her for help. And that's one call I do not want to make."

"Tenjo would be a difficult opponent for us to handle, but it seems that the only true threat to this plan of yours is Kotori Mezuki." Chitose pointed out. "We can avoid a confrontation with Tenjo if you or a member of your coven can seduce Yuma."

"You know, the curse would work with you too, Ani." Samantha revealed. "I mean you did bang that ex-pawn Alit before. Yuma wouldn't be all that different."

"I am only willing to go so far to help you with this plan." Chitose told her. "And as for my encounter with Alit, that was for personal reasons."

"Okay, okay. We'll try it another way." Samantha replied. "Since Mezuki might be the only real threat to this plan, as you said, let's just focus on killing her for now. And I think I may have the perfect girl for the job."

"Another member of your coven?" Chitose asked.

"Uh-huh. Fujisaki." Samantha answered. "And before she's finished, birdie-girl's gonna find herself wishing for a quick death."

* * *

**Author's Note:** I came up with that alternate backstory for Number 95 on the spot. I really liked the idea of a Number that represented Kaito's dark side. Actually, a possible AU with this idea could be a story of how Kaito ends up finding Number 95 and ends up being slowly corrupted by it. It's a thought. Anyway, this'll probably be the last update I'll be able to do for this story until Friday or Sunday. So until next time, stay tuned.

Please review and let me know what you think.


	7. Fujisaki's Bite

**Author's Note:** Well, because this one thing I was supposed to do yesterday ended up getting postponed until next week, I was able to get one of my online class assignments done a day early. Which means I was able to use this afternoon to work to get another chapter done. Anyway, if anyone has yet to read my previous story, _Vampire Papillon_, I suggest you go do that now. It's going to be pretty relevant to these next two chapters.

**Disclaimer:** I do not own Yu-Gi-Oh! ZEXAL.

* * *

Chapter 7: Fujisaki's Bite

It was the dead of night as Samantha walked down the sidewalk towards the Heartland Cemetery. A cold wind blew as she headed for the gate, causing the redhead to shiver slightly. As soon as Samantha walked through the gate and took a few steps up the upward slopping path, she spied an orange light in the distance. A few moments after Samantha started heading for the light past the tombstones, she heard the sound of moaning in the distance. A smirk appeared on Samantha's face as she continued towards the light.

After passing by a mausoleum, Samantha saw Fujisaki naked and on all fours by a little campfire she had set up. Plowing into her from behind was a young man on his knees with sandy-brown hair who was wearing only the top half of a Heartland Academy uniform. Samantha merely smiled and crossed her arms as she leaned against the corner of the mausoleum.

"C'mon… harder, you pansy-ass son of a bitch!" Fujisaki ordered.

The young man grabbed the dark-haired girl's left leg and pulled it straight back before bucking his hips even harder. Fujisaki dug her fingers into the dirt ground that she and the young man were on. With one last hard thrust, the young man and Fujisaki managed to climax at the same moment. Afterwards, the young man withdrew himself and collapsed to the ground on his side as he fell unconscious. Fujisaki meanwhile got back to her feet and put on a black hooded robe that was lying on the ground. When she turned around and saw Samantha, she merely sighed and shook her head.

"That was quite the show you put on." Samantha remarked.

"What's the matter, Sammy? Your internet not working?" Fujisaki asked as she walked towards her. "Not that I don't mind you watching of course."

"There's something to be said for a live show." Samantha told her. "Besides, I'm here on business. Alice failed in her mission?"

"What? No way!" Fujisaki exclaimed. "What the hell happened?"

"Kaito Tenjo interfered." Samantha explained. "He proved to be too much for Alice to handle."

"Well shit! That kinda screws things up." Fujisaki declared.

"True, but as long as Kotori Mezuki is eliminated, there's nothing to worry about." Samantha told her. "That's why I'm here. I want you to get rid of Mezuki for me. I'm sure as my little mistress of curses, you can give her a painful death."

"Sure, I thought you'd never ask." Fujisaki replied. "This'll be a blast."

"So, who's your latest conquest?" Samantha asked, referencing the young man on the ground.

"Just the boyfriend of that perky little bitch, Kasumi from Class 2-B." Fujisaki answered. "One of those terminally cheerful types that makes me sick. I put a little mind control spell on lover boy over there to make him my slave, and at the same time little Kasumi has just had a dream showing him and me getting it on."

"That's one of the things I like about you, Saki." Sammy told her. "You're so wonderfully vindictive."

"Hey, I'm just getting started with Kasumi." Fujisaki replied. "Starting tomorrow morning, her life is going to be a living hell. So getting back to Mezuki, do you want me to make it quick?"

"Quick but painful." Samantha answered. "I want her to suffer as much as possible."

"So no more, boss." Fujisaki told her. "She'll be begging for me to kill her before I'm done."

* * *

It was fairly early in the school day as Anna headed for class. She was in a good mood, since Yuma had just agreed to go out with her again later that afternoon. To Anna, it seemed like everything was going her way.

"I just don't know what I'm going to do about Yuma." A familiar voice spoke. Anna turned her head and saw Kotori talking to Droite at the end of the hallway on her left.

"If anyone can break through this spell to Yuma, it's you." Droite told Kotori as Anna ducked back to listen.

"It's not just the spell though." Kotori continued. "It's just… I wanted to wait for the right time to make love to Yuma, for when I was ready. Now it's like the decision for that time has been made for me. I'm just not if I'll be able to do it if and when the time comes."

"Yeah, I can see how you might have some major performance anxiety about this." Droite told her. "But if anyone can do this, it's you. And I'll be right behind you all the way."

"Thanks Droite." Kotori replied.

"Any time." Droite told her. "Now, you better get to class. As for me, I have a duel lesson to prepare for."

Kotori nodded and head down the hall in Anna's direction. Anna quickly made sure that Kotori wouldn't see her as she passed. As Anna watched the green-haired girl walk away, her anger began to rise like the lava of a volcano that was about to blow its top. Anna had no earthly idea why Kotori wanted to steal her boyfriend, but she wasn't going to let that happen. Right then and there, Anna swore to blow Kotori to bits if she so much as batted her eyes at Yuma.

* * *

It was just after lunch as Kotori went out to the yard behind the school to clear her head. The rain from that morning had only just stopped and Kotori could still smell it on the air. She was still trying to figure out the best way to approach Yuma and reintroduce who she was to him.

"Hey! Mezuki." A voice spoke from behind. Kotori turned around and saw Fujisaki walking up to her.

"You're… Fujisaki Hotsuda, right?" Kotori identified. "What do you want?"

"Yeah, I'm just gonna come out and tell ya now. I'm a member of Sammy's little club." Fujisaki revealed.

"So you work for Mitaka then!" Kotori realized.

"Bingo, and I've come to take you out." Fujisaki informed her. "If it was up to me, I'd just make you suffer for a long time and put a curse on your like I've done with every other tramp at this school who ticks me off."

"A curse?" Kotori repeated.

"You know how a lot of girls at this school have been calling in sick lately? That's my doing." Fujisaki revealed with a proud smirk. "Some of them have lost their hair or have had bad stomach pains, others have been having some wild nightmares and hallucinations that'll put 'em in the psych ward after a while. I'd do the same to you, but Sammy wants you taken care of quick. Either way though, I've been looking forward to this for a long time."

"What did I ever do to you?" Kotori asked.

"Nothing. Your face just totally pisses me off." Fujisaki told her. "I see you walking around here all the time like you're little miss perfect. You remind me of my straight-laced older sister. God how I hate her!"

"Well if you want to duel me… I guess I'll have to take you on." Kotori agreed.

"Hold on, Kotori." A voice interrupted. Kotori and Fujisaki looked and saw Droite walking towards them. "Let me handle this."

"Well if it isn't Heartland Academy's own duelist schoolmarm." Fujisaki observed. "Why don't you mind your own business, teach? This is between me and Mezuki here."

"I don't think so." Droite told her. "If you want to get to Kotori, you're going to have to go through me first."

"Droite, you don't have to do this." Kotori told her.

Droite smiled and shook her head. "This is the least I can do for you right now."

"Okay then teach." Fujisaki finally agreed. "But I'm gonna make you regret butting in."

With that, Fujisaki produced and activated a black D-Gazer and duel disk. Droite activated her own duel disk along with her purple D-gazer tattoo. As soon as Kotori activated her own D-Gazer in order to watch, the color of the surrounding area changed slightly.

"I'll make the first move." Fujisaki declared as she drew her first card. "First I'll activate the Spell, Card Destruction! This makes us both discard our hand and draw a new one with the same number of cards."

"Guess you were having a little hand trouble, huh?" Droite assumed as she drew new cards.

"None of your damn business." Fujisaki told her. "I'll summon Vampire Lady in Defense Mode and end my turn."

Appearing on Fujisaki's side of the battlefield was a woman with odd pale-green skin and long white hair arranged in an elegant fashion. She had on an old style purple dress with somewhat baggy sleeves. Here eyes were blood red, and protruding from her mouth was a pair of white fangs. Droite was visibly unsettled by the appearance of Fujisaki's vampire, as what little color there was in her cheeks just drained away.

"What's the matter, teach? Don't you like vampires?" Fujisaki asked.

"…Let's just say I have some personal reasons for not liking them." Droite responded as she quickly composed herself and drew her next card.

"Funny, I never pegged you as a total wuss. I mean only five-year-olds are scared of vampires these days." Fujisaki remarked. "Guess you're not such a badass after all."

"I don't give a damn what you think about me." Droite told her. "I summon Morpho Butterspy in Attack Mode!"

Appearing on Droite's side of the field was a female creature with a humanoid upper body and wearing a black and blue bodysuit. From her waist grew a large and magnificent pair of blue and black butterfly wings. Covering the upper half of her blue face was a brown helmet with yellow spots where eyes would normally be. In each hand, she carried a curved green blade.

"Because I just summoned a monster, I can also summon Blue Mountain Butterspy!" Droite announced.

Appearing next to Morpho Butterspy was another butterfly woman with a large beautiful pair of blue butterfly wings on her back. She had on blue armor, and in each hand carried a small shield with a blade attached to the top.

"Using my two level four monsters, I Xyz Summon Photon Papilloperative!" Droite announced.

A vortex appeared in the middle of the battlefield and pulled in Droite's two butterfly women as balls of purple energy. Rising out of the vortex a moment later was a woman wearing a dark-blue mask and helmet that had a large and beautiful pair of black and purple butterfly wings growing on the back. Both wings had a yellow spot near the top on the upper half. She had on an orange and dark-blue dress with a green gem on the chest and two large dark-blue shoulder pads. The woman's upper arms glowed with a blue light, while a pair of elbow-high black gloves covered her lower arms. In each hand she carried a purple weapon with two curved blades. Orbiting around the butterfly woman were two balls of blue light.

"I activate Photon Papilloperative's effect!" Droite announced. "By detaching an overlay unit, I switch Vampire Lady to Attack Mode and reduce her ATK by 600 points!"

One of the balls of light entered the gem on the butterfly woman's chest. Photon Papilloperative outstretched her arms and bombarded Vampire Lady with a barrage of blue lights, causing her to rise from the kneeling position she had been in from the moment she had appeared.

"I attack Vampire Lady with Photon Papilloperative!" Droite announced. "Photon Dance!"

Photon Papilloperative flew forward, and after twirling around sliced Vampire Lady in half with her weapons. The two halves of the undead woman shattered and Fujisaki's life points dropped to 2800.

"I set two cards on the field and end my turn." Droite announced.

"Not bad, teach." Fujisaki remarked. "But now the real fun begins. First I activate the Spell card, Terraforming and add a Field Spell to my hand! And now I play the Field Spell I just pulled, Vampire Kingdom!"

In an instant, the schoolyard transformed into an old European city from the 1800s, one that seemed to be fenced by high walls of stone with a large iron gate. All of the buildings and houses in the city were grey, and in the distance behind Fujisaki was a hill with a red-roofed white castle at the top. The sky had turned to night, and glowing high above the castle was a large blood-red moon. The whole city seemed to be dead or asleep, and a thick mist covered the ground. The appearance of the city had made Droite even more unsettled than she was when Vampire Lady had appeared.

"Jeez teach, you look like you're gonna wet your pants!" Fujisaki taunted with a laugh. "Don't tell me you're actually scared by all this!"

_'I don't blame Droite for reacting like this.'_ Kotori thought. _'This must remind her of the time when she was a vampire.'_

"I activate the Spell, Book of Life!" Fujisaki announced. "With this card I revive Vampire Lady and banish a monster from my opponent's Graveyard!" Vampire Lady rematerialized onto the battlefield. "Now I sacrifice Vampire Lady to summon Vampire Duke!"

Vampire Lady shattered to bits and a whirlwind appeared in her place. After a moment the whirlwind died down to reveal a male vampire with slick black hair, pale skin and pointed ears. His outfit was like that of a vampire from an old black and white movie.

"When Vampire Duke is Normal Summoned, I can revive another Vampire monster from my Graveyard." Fujisaki announced. "So I revive one of the monsters I discarded earlier with Card Destruction, Vampire Lord!"

A shadowy black mound rose up next to Vampire Duke and took the form of another vampire, one with purple skin and pale-blue hair. He had on an elegant purple suit, and clutching onto the back of his dark cape was something that looked like a large red hand with yellow claws.

"Using the level five Vampire Lord and Vampire Duke, I Xyz Summon the king of all Vampire monsters!" Fujisaki announced. "Awaken, Crimson Knight Vampire Bram!"

Another vortex appeared in the center of the battlefield and pulled in the two vampires as balls of red energy. Rising out of the vortex a moment later was a new vampire with chalk-white skin, blood-red eyes and long white hair that went half way down his back. He had on purple armor decorated in spots with yellow spikes that resembled fangs. In his left hand he carried a kite-shaped shield with a spike on the center in the middle of a glowing red light that had two points on the end. In his right hand, the vampire carried a large black sword with a crossguard shaped like a pair of bat-like wings. Orbiting around the vampire were two balls of red light.

"Thanks to Vampire Kingdom, when a Zombie-type monster does battle, it gains 500 ATK." Fujisaki announced. "Bram, attack Photon Papilloperative! Sword of Crimson Blood!"

Bram charged forward towards Droite's butterfly woman. As he raised his sword, the blade began to glow a crimson red.

"I… I activate my Trap, Mirror Force!" Droite quickly announced.

Just as Bram swung down to deliver the deathblow, his blade hit an invisible barrier that caused bolts of electricity to shoot back and hit him in the chest. The vampire knight was instantly destroyed in a fiery explosion. With Bram gone, Droite let out a heavy sigh.

"Well, looks like payback will have to wait for a little bit." Fujisaki observed. "For now, I'll set a card on the field and end my turn."

"Hang in there, Droite!" Kotori called. "Just remember, those vampires are just cards!"

"Wait a sec, are you actually afraid of vampires teach?" Fujisaki asked.

"You wouldn't understand." Droite told her as she drew her next card. "Besides, it doesn't matter anyway. Photon Papilloperative, attack Fujisaki directly! Photon Dance!"

"I activate my Trap, Sacred Rune Barrier!" Fujisaki announced. "This card negates your monster's ATK and bounces back half its ATK as damage!"

Just as Photon Papilloperative came in striking range, an orange light in the form of the Rune Mystic symbol appeared and blocked her path. The butterfly woman ended up running into the symbol and was shocked by bolts of orange lightning. Several of the bolts flew back and struck Droite, causing her to cry out in pain as her life points dropped to 2950. When the shock ended, smoke was rising from Photon Papilloperative's body. Droite meanwhile dropped to one knee and was trying to catch her breath.

"When Rune Barrier manages to block an attack, I can add Rank-Up-Magic Rune Force to my hand." Fujisaki announced. "So are you done, teach?"

"I… I end my turn." Droite announced as she rose back to her feet.

Fujisaki drew her next card. "At the start of my turn, because Bram was destroyed by one of my opponent's cards, he comes back to the field in Defense Mode." A red mist gathered on Fujisaki's side of the battlefield and took the form of Bram, who was in a kneeling position. "I think you know what comes next, teach. I activate Rank-Up-Magic Rune Force! Using Crimson Knight Vampire Bram, I rebuild the overlay network and Xyz Summon Rune Mystic Vampire Bram!"

The symbol of the Rune Mystic monsters appeared under Bram and shot a pillar of orange light into the air. The light faded after a moment to show Bram standing on his feet in a new form. His white hair had grown longer, and his purple armor had turned red and was glowing with white lines in spots. His sword had turned red as well and the blade of it had grown longer and had gained a curved tip. Bram's shield meanwhile had taken on a more spade-like shape and had the Rune Mystic symbol glowing on the front in white. On Bram's back, a pair of large red bat-like wings had sprouted. A fanged grin was on Bram's face, and orbiting around the vampire was a single ball of white flames.

"Get ready, teach." Fujisaki grinned. "I'm about to introduce you to a whole new world of pain!"

* * *

**Author's Note:** The duel in this chapter ended up being a pretty hard one to write, mainly because I've never used either kind of deck before in a duel. It also didn't help that I kept losing my internet connection last night while trying to look up certain card effects. Anyway, I hope everyone's enjoying the duel I came up with so far.

Please review and let me know what you think.


	8. Daughter of Morphia

**Author's Note:** I'd like to dedicate this next chapter to K.I.T.T. RIDER, who seems to going through something of a stressful time at the moment. I hope she enjoys this next installment.

**Disclaimer:** I do not own Yu-Gi-Oh! ZEXAL.

* * *

Chapter 8: Daughter of Morphia

"I activate the Spell card, Rune Reload!" Fujisaki announced. "Using this card, I attach Card Destruction and Terraforming in the Graveyard to Rune Mystic Vampire Bram!"

Two balls of light flew from the Graveyard slot of Fujisaki's duel disk. The lights became white fireballs that were quickly drawn into Bram's orbit.

"Eat this, teach! Bram, attack Photon Papilloperative!" Fujisaki commanded. "Great Crimson Death Blade!"

Bram slashed his sword through the air and send a massive blade of crimson light at Droite's monster. Photon Papilloperative was vaporized in an instant and the attack knocked Droite onto her back. The butterfly duelist's life points took a heavy plunge to 1550. It took a moment for Droite to get back up.

"Oh good. You didn't die on me." Fujisaki spoke. "That's great, 'cause I wanna draw this out a little longer. I activate Bram's effect! When Bram inflicts battle damage, I can detach any number of his overlay units to summon the same number of monsters from either of our Graveyards! I detach all three overlay units to revive Vampire Lord, Vampire's Curse and Photon Papilloperative!"

All three of the fireballs that were orbiting around Bram flew into the blade of his sword, causing it to glow red. The vampire lord stabbed the sword into the ground and three glowing red lines flowed from the blade, ending in three spots that rose into blobs of blood. The first blob took the form of Vampire Lord. The second blob became another vampire with spiked green hair and red eyes, who wore a blue bodysuit with purple chest and shoulder armor. On the right side of his back was a large red wing that grew out from beneath his red cape. The third blob formed into Photon Papilloperative, who had turned black and white and had gained glowing red eyes.

"While Bram's on the field, all other monsters control turn into Zombie-types." Fujisaki revealed. "In other words, Photon Papilloperative's a vampire now. Don't worry though. Monsters that are summoned by Bram's power can't attack on the turn they appear, so you're safe for now. On my next turn though, you're gonna be slaughtered!"

"You won't… get a next turn." Droite declared. "One way or another, I'm going to take you down!"

"In your dreams!" Fujisaki scoffed. "There's no way you can turn this around."

"I'll find away." Droite told her. "Even if I can't beat you on this next turn, I will stop you one way or another."

"You know you're kinda starting to get on my nerves." Fujisaki told her. "Just for that, I'm gonna make you suffer a living hell before you die with a little curse."

With that, Fujisaki closed her eyes and held her right hand towards Droite. The dark-haired witch's body began to glow with a red aura.

"O cold unfeeling crimson moon! Make this woman experience the pain of a thousand flames until she draws her last breath!" Fujisaki chanted.

A ball of crimson light flew from the palm of Fujisaki's hand and struck Droite in the chest, causing her to become enveloped in a flash of orange flames. When the flames died down though, Droite glowed briefly with a purple aura. She then glared at Fujisaki with a pair of glowing orange eyes and hissed as she bared a pair of sharp fangs.

"Wha… what the hell?" a startled Fujisaki exclaimed. "That curse was supposed to make you feel like you were on fire!"

"You impudent little girl!" Droite spoke in an echoing voice. "You have no idea of the kind of being you're trifling with!"

"Droite?" a concerned Kotori spoke. "Are you okay?"

The butterfly duelist merely drew her next card. "I summon Moonlit Papillon in Attack Mode!"

Appearing on Droite's side of the battlefield was a large butterfly with wings that resembled the surface of the moon. On the front of its body was a large red eye.

"I activate my Trap, Shadow Mirror Butterfly!" Droite announced. "By targeting a monster I control, this card becomes a monster with the same level! I target Moonlit Papillon to summon Shadow Mirror Butterfly as a level four monster!"

A large butterfly with shimmering purple wings flew from Droite's Trap card. When the insect landed, two black dots appeared on the upper half of each wing.

"Using my two monsters, I build the overlay network and Xyz Summon the priestess of the undead!" Droite announced. "Arise, Dead Star Butterfly Priestess!"

A large purple vortex appeared in the middle of the battlefield and pulled in Droite's butterflies as balls of purple energy. Rising out of the vortex soon after was a woman with chalk-white skin with a large pair of purple butterfly wings on her back. She had white hair styled like Droite's and a pair of orange cat-like eyes. Atop her head was a crown of black flowers, and a black stocking covered the lower half of face and her neck. She had on a light-blue dress with two slits in the sides of the skirt that went down just past her knees, along with a pair of black knee-high high-heeled boots and black elbow-high gloves. Hanging from her neck was a silver butterfly-shaped medallion with a red stone on the center. Orbiting around the butterfly woman were two balls of purple light.

"That's… the monster Droite used when she was a vampire!" an unsettled Kotori realized.

"What the hell kind of monster is that?" Fujisaki asked.

"Using Dead Star Butterfly Priestess, I rebuild the overlay network and Xyz Summon a beast with the power to drain life from stars!" Droite announced. "Awaken, Dead Star Papillon Dragon!"

A vortex in the form of a purple galaxy appeared in the middle of the field and pulled in Butterfly Priestess. Emerging from the vortex a moment later was an object that looked like a large black butterfly-shaped broach with a blue gem in the center. Orbiting around the broach were three balls of purple light. The gem in the broach glowed and let off a blinding flash of light. The light cleared to reveal a bipedal dragon with a feminine build. Its body glowed with a purple light, and it had black armor that covered the back of its head, its shoulders and upper legs, as well as its entire tail. On the tip of the dragon's tail was a blue blade shaped almost like a bat. The armor on the back of the dragon's hair also formed a pair of long straight black horns, and on its back was a pair of purple transparent butterfly wings. It had black claws on its hands and feet, and on the front of its chest was the same butterfly-like broach that had emerged from the vortex.

"That monster looks a lot like Kaito's dragon!" Kotori realized.

"What… what the freakin' hell?" Fujisaki exclaimed as she stumbled back a bit in fear.

"I attack Vampire Bram with Papillon Dragon!" Droite announced.

Upon hearing this, a small smirk reappeared on Fujisaki's face. "You had me a little freaked out there for a minute. I don't even know why the hell I was scared. You forget, teach, that Vampire Kingdom gives all my Zombie monsters a 500-point boost during a battle. Both Bram and that dragon of yours both have 3000 ATK, which means all you're be doing is killing yourself."

"I activate Papillon Dragon's effect!" Droite announced. "When Papillon Dragon attacks a monster, I can detach one of her overlay units and banish the target at the start of the battle!"

One of the balls of light orbiting Papillon Dragon entered the jewel on her broach. The gemstone fired a purple beam that struck Bram in the chest and caused him to vanish from the field. As soon as Bram disappeared, Vampire Lord, Vampire's Curse and Photon Papilloperative collapsed into piles of black dust that blew away in the breeze.

"Dammit!" Fujisaki cursed. "Since Bram just left the field, all the monsters he revived as vampires got destroyed!"

"Papillon Dragon gains half the original ATK of the banished monster until the end of the turn, making her ATK 4500." Droite continued. "But more importantly, she can now make another attack!"

"Oh shit!" Fujisaki cursed.

"Taste the true power of the vampire, insect!" Droite called. "Papillon Dragon, attack her directly! Photon Stream of Desolation!"

Papillon Dragon opened her jaws and fired an intense blast of purple light at Fujisaki. Fujisaki screamed as her remaining life points dropped to zero in a flash. With the duel at an end, Papillon Dragon vanished and the Vampire Kingdom changed back into Heartland Academy. Suddenly Droite lost consciousness and began to fall to the ground. Kotori rushed over and managed to keep her from at least hitting her head. She looked across the field to Fujisaki. Fujisaki's hair had turned stark white and her eyes were frozen open in terror.

"I think I better call Kaito." Kotori quickly decided, and with that she brought up Kaito's number on her D-Gazer.

* * *

Kotori sat quietly in a chair at the Heartland Tower Lab while Kaito and Orbital 7 quietly examined the card Droite had used to defeat Fujisaki. Droite meanwhile was on a bed that had been set up and her, and was still out cold.

"This new Dead Star card has the same stats as Photon Dragon." Kaito spoke. "It even has a similar effect. Any monster it banishes returns to the field at the start of its owner's next turn. Of course that's assuming the owner in question can survive the attack. Plus even though it's a Rank eight monster, it can be summoned using a single Dead Star monster as the material."

"S-s-strange how it would be similar to your dragon, M-Master Kaito." Orbital 7 remarked.

"What bothers me even more is that according to its effect, Papillon Dragon can only be destroyed by a Dragon-type Synchro Monster." Kaito continued. "Which means if the worst should happen… Hikari, Cleo and Hana are the only ones I know of who'd have a chance against this card. The evolved forms of each of their dragons seem to be the only thing that can take Papillon Dragon down in battle."

"Do you really think it might come to that, sir?" Orbital 7 asked.

"I hope not." Kaito answered. "But one thing's for sure, Orbital. This dragon is unlike any of the other Dead Star monsters we've seen."

"Um, Kaito?" Kotori spoke, getting the photon duelist's attention. "What's going on? Is Droite becoming a vampire again?"

"I don't think so." Kaito answered. "As far as I can tell, this seems to have to do with something else."

"What do you mean?" Kotori asked.

At this, Kaito let out a heavy sigh. "…I guess you have a right to know at this point. Droite's pregnant."

"…Oh!" Kotori responded. "So I guess then that…"

"I'm the father." Kaito confirmed, knowing what the green-haired girl was about to say. "The only other people who know about this right now are my father and Hikari. I'd appreciate it if you kept this under your hat for a while."

"No problem." Kotori assured him. "You know… you don't seem all that happy about this."

"Droite and I are pretty sure our child was conceived during the Morphia incident." Kaito revealed. "And after what's just happened, it seems clear that this child isn't normal. At the very least it's probably half vampire."

"And you worried it might become a threat?" Kotori asked.

"That's why I've just spent the last few minutes analyzing that card." Kaito answered. "If the worst should happen, I want to know what steps to take."

"I guess I can kind of understand that, but… you don't know what this kid of yours is going to be like." Kotori pointed out. "Sure it might not be a normal human, but that doesn't mean it'll be a threat. For all you know, this kid might turn out to be good. That wouldn't surprise me at all, because you and Droite are such good people. I'm sure you can raise this kid to be a good person."

A bitter smile appeared on Kaito's face. "You know, you can be as naïve as Yuma sometimes."

"Maybe, but I'm sure I'm right." Kotori told him. "This baby you and Droite are having is going to be a good kid."

* * *

_Droite found herself walking alone through a vast dim camber with walls and a floor that glowed with an eerie purple light. All around her were rows of transparent crystalline coffins. Droite immediately knew where she was. She was about the mother ship of the vampire race. Suddenly a spotlight shined down on a spot just a few feet in front of her, revealing a crystal throne on a raised pedestal. Sitting atop the throne was a woman who looked almost exactly like Droite._

_The main difference between Droite and this woman was that she had long white hair that went down just past her waist. Covering her chest was a piece of silver armor that exposed her midriff and showed off her ample cleavage. Around her waist was a long skirt made from shimmering white fabric, held in place by a silver belt with a butterfly-shaped crest as the buckle. Droite immediately recognized the woman as her biological mother, the vampire goddess, Morphia._

_"Hello, daughter." Morphia greeted. "It's about time the two of us had a little talk."_

_"I have nothing I want to say to you!" Droite told her. "It's because of you I became a monster that almost destroyed the world!"_

_"All I did was awaken you." Morphia calmly replied. "You cannot deny the blood that flows through your veins, nor can the child you will one day soon have."_

_Droite went completely pale upon hearing this. "You mean… my child will be like you?"_

_"At least partly." Morphia answered. "The dragon you used to defeat that girl is her inheritance."_

_Droite's hands balled into fists at her sides. "Even if that's true… even if my child isn't entirely human, I swear she won't end up being a monster like you!"_

_At this, Morphia smirked and rose to her feet. "You really are a rebellious girl. I suppose that's my fault for sending you away. You may raise the child however you see fit, but no matter what, you and she will never escape the blood in your veins. Remember this, Droite. You and I will always be family, and this will always be where you came from."_

_Morphia then pointed her finger at Droite and fired an intense beam of blue light. Droite tried to escape, but found her legs somehow rooted to the ground._

* * *

Droite gasped as she shot up in her bed in the lab, her brow covered in a cold sweat. As she tried to calm herself down, she put her hand on her stomach. Common sense told Droite that what she had just experienced was only a dream, yet her instincts told her that it was something much more than that. At that moment Kaito entered the lab alone. He had since taken off his usual coat and was down to a sleeveless black shirt. The blonde immediately noticed that Droite was awake.

"Are you okay?" a concerned Kaito asked as he went over.

"Yeah… I think so." Droite answered. "How long was I out?"

"Just two or three hours." Kaito answered. "You sure you're okay?"

"I… I had a dream where Morphia talked to me." Droite revealed. "She told me that our child… wouldn't be fully human."

"…Yeah, that seems clear from what happened during that duel you had." Kaito replied.

"…Kaito, I don't care what our child turns out to be." Droite told him. "I know we can raise her to be something other than a monster."

"Kotori said something like that when she was here earlier." Kaito revealed. "…I don't know what this kid of ours is going to be like, but it is going to be ours. Whatever happens, I won't abandon either of you."

Droite gave Kaito a tearful smile upon hearing this. After a moment they kissed, and their kiss quickly turned into a deep open-mouthed meeting on the tongues. When they broke apart for air, Kaito saw a deep desire burning Droite's eyes. She needed him to be close to her at that moment. Kaito quickly pulled off the shirt he was wearing and tossed it carelessly away. He then pulled off Droite's t-shirt, revealing the lavender bra she had chosen to wear that day.

Kaito moved back in and began to kiss and suck on Droite's neck, earning a few soft moans from the butterfly duelist. At the same time, he reached behind and deftly undid the clasp of Droite's bra with one hand. The lavender undergarment fell away, revealing Droite's breasts. Using his right hand, Kaito began to massage Droite's left breast, causing her to arch her back. After a few minutes of this, Kaito stepped back and quickly took off his pants undergarments, freeing his hardened erection. The blonde then began to quickly work on undoing the buckle of Droite's belt. Droite raised her hips to allow Kaito to remove her skirt and panties.

With both of them in the nude, Kaito got on top of Droite and slid his hardened rod into her. He began to rock his hips slowly while keeping his upper half above Droite with his arms. The two of them gazed into one another's as Kaito gradually picked up speed. Eventually, Droite reached up from under Kaito's arms to grab his back while she wrapped her legs securely around the blonde's waist. Kaito took the signal to pump into her harder, causing Droite to let out a deep moan and dig her fingernails into Kaito's back.

They went on like this for what seemed like an eternity. Their bodies became covered in sweat. Eventually though, the dam burst and the two of them hit their climax in the same instant. Droite threw her head back and a silent scream escaped her mouth as she came. As the two of them came down from their high, they moved their heads forward and their foreheads met. A moment later they collapsed onto the bed as a tangle of arms and legs and gently dozed off.

* * *

Yuma looked out at the rain coming down outside the window by the table he and Anna were sitting at. The two of them were a little restaurant that Anna had picked out. The restaurant was just a simple little café with food prices that were easily affordable to the average Heartland Academy student. Yuma and Anna had ended up eating at a booth table. While Anna was quickly consuming the food that was in front of her, Yuma had hardly touched his plate. His mind had been on something else ever since they sat down.

He didn't know why, but Yuma found his thoughts seemed to be fixed on Kotori. Though he and the green-haired girl had only met briefly a couple of times, there was something about her that seemed to draw Yuma in. Yuma also felt that Kotori was somehow very important to him, yet he couldn't understand why he thought that.

"Yuma, you okay?" Anna spoke, stirring him from his thoughts.

"Uh, yeah. Sorry." Yuma responded. "What were you saying?"

"I hadn't been saying anything." Anna told him in a somewhat annoyed tone. "We've hardly said to words to each other since we sat down."

"Oh… yeah, I guess not." Yuma realized.

"Am I boring you? Is that it?" Anna asked. "That's it! I'm boring to you, aren't I?"

"No, no! You're not boring at all!" Yuma assured her. "I'm… just a little scatterbrained right now, I guess. I've got this big assignment I've got to turn in next week, and I'm just wondering how I'm gonna finish it."

"I see…" Anna replied, giving him a suspicious look. "You sure that's the only thing you're thinking about?"

"Oh course it is!" Yuma lied. "What else would I be thinking about?"

"…Nothing, I guess." Anna finally responded. "You might wanna eat that burger you ordered before it gets cold."

Yuma nodded and finally took a bite into his food. As the meal continued, Anna gave Yuma a suspicious glance every now and then. She couldn't help but wonder if Yuma had really been thinking of a certain green-haired tramp that was planning to steal him away.

* * *

Samantha was pacing around her basement hideout in the school with her arms crossed. She was infuriated that the second member of her little coven had been defeated. At that moment, Chitose walked down into the room, causing Samantha to stop pacing.

"I take it from your mood that the second member of your coven failed in her mission." Chitose deduced.

"This time it was Tenjo's girlfriend." Samantha revealed. "She used those weird Xyz Monsters she had during that vampire thing that happened here a while ago."

"Strange. I thought the Envoy of Astral World had neutralized that threat." Chitose replied.

"Well, it looks like he didn't do a good enough job, or something." Samantha replied. "And this was supposed to be an easy job!"

"It seems that Alnia was right to have me come along and assist you." Chitose observed. "Perhaps you should let me take care of Kotori Mezuki."

"You really willing to do that, Ani?" Samantha asked.

"It's no trouble." Chitose assured her. "A novice duelist like Mezuki will be no problem for me, nor will Don Thousand's two former pawns. Tenjo might be a problem if he should decide to interfere, but I'm equipped to handle Ms. Droite if she should cause problems."

"Well then by all means, go for it." Samantha told her. "In case you haven't noticed, I'm now running pretty short on coven members."

"You needn't worry, Mitaka." Chitose told her. "A duel like this should be child's play."

* * *

**Author's Note:** This chapter was a key point in Kaito and Droite's current storyline. A storyline that will continue on through what remains of this trilogy and into the story that comes after. What happened here is only just the beginning.

Please review and let me know what you think.


	9. A Moment Alone

**Disclaimer:** I do not own Yu-Gi-Oh! ZEXAL.

* * *

Chapter 9: A Moment Alone

It was the beginning of another day as Kotori walked into the school. Kotori couldn't help feeling a bit desperate that morning, as she knew she was starting to run out of time. The curse Mitaka had placed on Yuma was set to kill him in three days, counting the day that had just begun. Kotori knew what she had to do, but it was a very tall order considering that she and Yuma had only had a couple of brief encounters in around the school. If there was any hope of saving Yuma, Kotori had to make some kind of attempt to spend some time with him. Though Yuma still had no memory of who Kotori was, the very least she could do was try and have him get to know her all over again.

As Kotori sat in class that morning, she found it impossible to focus on anything that the teacher was saying. Instead she was trying to come up with different ways for to meet with Yuma. The key was finding a way for them to at least be alone for a little bit. The main problem though was that Yuma would probably be with either Anna or one of his friends. After a lot of internal debate, Kotori decided to try and corner Yuma in the hall right before lunch. That seemed to be the best window of opportunity for them to be alone for at least a few minutes, and if she missed it she wouldn't get another one for at least another day.

After what seemed like forever, the bell finally rang and it was time for the students to head out for lunch. Kotori immediately headed for the classroom that Yuma had been assigned to since Mitaka's spell had altered everyone's memories. She walked through the halls as fast as she could without running. By the time she finally got to Yuma's classroom, the only person left in there was Yuma's friend, Tetsuo.

"Excuse me." Kotori spoke, getting Tetsuo's attention. "Do you know where Yuma is? Yuma Tsukumo?"

"He just left for lunch with his girlfriend, Anna." Tetsuo answered. On hearing this, Kotori became crestfallen. "Are you a friend of his or something?"

"Sorta…" Kotori answered. "I'm sorry to bother you."

With that, Kotori left the classroom and slowly headed for the cafeteria. It seemed like she had completely blown it, and there didn't seem to be much hope of her being alone with Yuma anytime soon.

* * *

Alit stood in the halls of Heartland Academy scanning all the girl students who were at that moment leaving their classrooms to go to lunch. Though Yuma had no memory of who Alit was, Alit still at least had the advantage of being a Heartland Academy student. With that position still intact, Alit had decided to try and find if there were other girls helping Mitaka and take them down before they either went after Kotori or tried to get their claws into Yuma. Unfortunately he wasn't having any luck determining who might be a member of Mitaka's little club. It wasn't as if those girls had any sort of trait that marked them as minions of the Death Queen that they were currently up against.

Just as Alit was about to give up and head for the cafeteria with everyone else, he spied a familiar face down the hall on his right out of the corner of his eye. He turned his head and saw that it was Chitose. Alit stood and watched as Chitose walked away. Suddenly his D-Gazer began to ring. He took the device out of his pocket and saw that it was Kaito calling him. The boxer duelist put the device over his eye to answer the call.

_"Any luck finding more of Mitaka's helpers?"_ Kaito asked over the line.

"No, but it looks like I've found an even bigger problem for us." Alit reported. "Anitak's back."

_"Anitak! So we're dealing with two Death Queens then?"_ Kaito realized.

"It looks that way." Alit confirmed.

_"If you want, I can be down there in a few minutes to take care of her."_ Kaito suggested.

"Nah, I've got this one." Alit told him. "You forget that I'm the only one besides Yuma who's seen her in action. Besides, I feel like she and I have something we need to settle."

_"Okay then. But be careful."_ Kaito told him.

"Oh don't worry. I'll be careful alright." Alit assured him. "But I'm not gonna pull any punches either."

* * *

Kotori sat outside under a tree in the schoolyard lost in thought. They grey overcast sky seemed to perfectly reflect her mood. The more she thought about it, the more it seemed like it might be impossible for her and Yuma to get back together. Every now and then Kotori mussed on the idea of how Yuma's current relationship with Anna might actually be for the best. With the speed that their relationship seemed to be progressing, there was a very good chance that Anna might be the one to break the curse on Yuma.

While Kotori couldn't stand the thought of Yuma giving himself to another girl, the important thing was saving him from death or something much worse. Even so, Kotori felt like she couldn't just stand by and let something like that happen. Yet what other option did she have? The way things had become thanks to Mitaka's wretched spell, Yuma hardly remembered that Kotori even existed. Getting Yuma to come back to her was an uphill battle, and Kotori didn't seem to have enough time.

"Excuse me." A very familiar voice spoke. Kotori turned her head and gasped when she saw Yuma standing before her. "Do you mind if I joined you?"

"Uh… um, not at all." Kotori replied.

"Thanks." Yuma told her as he sat down next to her under the tree. "So… do you come out here often? To this tree, I mean?"

"…Sometimes." Kotori answered. "It's a nice place to be when I want to be alone to think."

"What were you thinking about?" Yuma asked.

"Well… I suppose I was thinking about this friend of mine." Kotori told him. "It seems like he and I have kind of drifted apart, and I've been trying to figure out how to reconnect with him. But it doesn't seem like that's going to happen. It's sort of like he's forgotten who I even am."

"Are you and this friend pretty close?" Yuma asked.

"Yeah. We've been friends since we were just little kids." Kotori answered with a small smile. "The truth is… I can't really imagine my life without him. Still… I think things between him and I may have changed for good."

"…If you and this friend of yours are really that close, then you can't give up on him." Yuma told her. "Sure it may seem hopeless, but sometimes you have to try anyway, especially if it's important. I've always believed that even if something seems impossible, you can do it if you just try hard enough."

"…You know, the friend I've been talking about has kind of the same way of looking at things." Kotori told him as her smile returned.

"Well, we should probably be heading back to class." Yuma decided as he got back up. "Hey, this might seem weird but… would you mind if I walked you home?"

"Uh… I guess not." Kotori answered. "Sure."

"I'll meet you by the front gate then." Yuma told him. "Later."

With that, Yuma quickly headed back towards the building. Kotori meanwhile was left trying to figure out what had just happened. She hadn't expected Yuma to simply ask to walk home with her out of the blue like that. The green-haired girl didn't really feel like questioning why though. She found she was just happy that Yuma seemed to want to spend time with her.

* * *

Kaito stood working at the controls of a large round metal tank with a window on the front that had been set up in the lab. Orbital 7 was working at a neighboring control panel monitoring some readings. Kaito sighed and glanced at the clock in the corner of the monitor he was working at and saw that he had been working for almost four straight.

"Orbital, I'm going to take a break." Kaito told the robot. "Keep an eye on things while I'm gone."

"Y-yes sir." Orbital responded.

Kaito left the lab and in a few moments was in the kitchen of his residence at the tower. Droite was sitting at the counter with a simple sandwich and a glass of milk in front of her. Kaito had convinced the butterfly duelist to take the day off to properly recover from her duel with Fujisaki.

"How's it going?" Droite asked.

"Slow, but pretty well." Kaito answered as he got into the fridge and pulled out another sandwich that he had made earlier that morning. "I'm probably going to be working for most of the night though."

"What exactly are you working on?" Droite asked.

"Hopefully something that'll be the perfect way for Kotori to be alone with Yuma." Kaito answered. "In order for Kotori to do what she needs to do, she and Yuma have to be in a place where they can be alone without Mitaka or any of her hired help getting to them. Last night I came up with the perfect solution."

"And just what is this perfect solution of yours?" Droite asked.

"A sphere field." Kaito answered. "One similar to the one that the Barians used during the early days of the Number War but uses the energy of Astral World."

"Kaito, that's brilliant!" an impressed Droite praised. "Of course most of your ideas are. Still, do you think it'll work?"

"We have data on how the sphere field cubes used by the Barians worked." Kaito replied. "Though replicating one has been a little tricky. Hopefully Orbital and I will be able to get it done in time. In the meantime, it seems like we might have bigger problems?"

"What do you mean?" Droite asked.

"I called Alit earlier to ask if he found any more Mitaka's minions." Kaito explained. "He said that he found Anitak instead."

"So now we're dealing with two of the Death Queens." Droite realized.

"Alit's probably moving in to take on Anitak as we speak." Kaito informed her. "Hopefully she won't be too much for him to handle."

* * *

Kotori found that she was quite nervous as she waited for Yuma to meet her at the gate. It was the same kind of nervousness she had felt the first time they had gone on an actual date together. But then it seemed like they were starting their relationship from scratch. Yuma was going to start getting to know her all over again, and she wanted desperately to make a good impression. At long last she saw Yuma heading towards the gate. Yuma waved to her as he walked up.

"Sorry if I kept you waiting for too long." Yuma told her.

"That's okay. I haven't been waiting long." Kotori assured him. "So, shall get going?"

"You bet." Yuma answered.

With that, they left the school grounds and headed for home. As they walked what before the spell had been their usual route home, an awkward silence had been hanging over them. Kotori had been trying to think of some kind of topic of conversation but seemed to be drawing a blank. It hadn't helped that Yuma was being silent as well. After several minutes, Kotori finally decided to ask the one question that had been on her mind since Yuma approached her at the tree.

"So… why did you ask to walk home with me?" Kotori asked.

At this, Yuma stopped in his tracks. "You know… I'm not really sure. You'll probably find this kinda weird, but you've kinda been on my brain for the last couple of days." He turned around to look at Kotori. "It's like… I know you from somewhere."

Just as Kotori was about to say something in response, Yuma suddenly cried out and fell to his knee, clutching his chest. The curse mark that Mitaka had placed on his chest was glowing through his shirt. Kotori quickly ran to his side.

"Yuma, what's wrong?" a worried Kotori asked.

"I… I don't know." Yuma answered. Suddenly the mark stopped glowing and Yuma let out a deep breath. "It's stopped now. I think I'm okay."

"Are you sure?" Kotori asked. "Maybe I should…"

"Get the hell away from him!" a voice interrupted. Yuma and Kotori looked and saw Anna standing a few feet away with her arms crossed.

"Anna, I…" Yuma began.

"Get in my car, and we'll talk." Anna ordered as she motioning to the red convertible that was parked just a few feet away.

"Uh, Kotori, I think I better go." Yuma told her. "Looks like Anna and I might need to work some things out."

"Are you sure?" Kotori asked.

"Don't worry. It'll be fine. I'll see you later." Yuma told her. With that, Yuma got into the parked car.

Anna meanwhile walked up to Kotori. "Look, you slut! I don't know what the hell your game is, but if you don't stay away from Yuma, I'm gonna blow you to pieces!"

Anna then stormed off and got into the car. Kotori watched as she and Yuma drove off at what was probably an unsafe speed for the road they were on. After a moment she sighed and went to go look out over the water. She gazed at the city in the distance for a few minutes before pulling out Utopia's card, looking at it with a smile.

"Maybe there's some hope after all." Kotori told herself.

"I'm afraid your hope has just been lost!" a familiar voice told her. Kotori looked to see Chitose standing before her in her street clothes that resembled the uniform of another school.

"Chitose!" Kotori exclaimed.

"That is not my name." The dark-haired girl reminded her. "At least not in this life."

"That's right. You're Anitak, one of the Death Queens." Kotori responded. "So what do you want?"

"I've come to eliminate you." Chitose told her. "As simplistic as it seems, Mitaka's plan is turning out to be quite brilliant. But your continued existence is a threat to it. Therefore, I shall eliminate that threat."

"Not on my watch!" another voice cut in. Kotori and Chitose looked to see Alit arrive. "If you want to come after Kotori, you're gonna have to go through me!"

"You dare to interfere?" Chitose asked with anger rising in her voice.

"I don't know why, but I feel like we've got some kind of score to settle." Alit told her. "So what do ya say we settle it right now?"

"…Very well." Chitose agreed after regaining her composure. "Let's get this over with."

Suddenly a pair of black-feathered angelic wings appeared on Chitose's back. With a flash of crimson light Chitose transformed into her Barian form. Her skin had become the color of copper metal and her dark hair had turned silver and had grown all the way down to her waist. Her fingernails had become silver claws, and on the front of her stomach where her bellybutton would be was a red diamond framed in silver. Covering the Barian's chest was a piece of black armor with silver trim, decorated with a Barian Emblem in the center. Around her waist was a short tattered black skirt held in place by a golden belt with a silver buckle adorned with a red gemstone.

"I should've killed you and Don Thousand's other former pawns myself when I had the chance." Anitak declared. "I will correct that mistake now and end your life right here!"

* * *

**Author's Note:** I hope it hasn't bugged anyone that Kotori hasn't dueled very much in this story so far, even though she's kind of the main focus. She will be seeing a little more action after this next duel though. In the meantime, we'll be moving on with the little subplot with Alit and Anitak that sort of formed during the first story.

Please review and let me know what you think.


	10. Boxers vs Students

**Author's Note:** This is the first chance I've had in days to do an update to this story. My whole week has just been go, go, go. I've barely had time to read manga, let alone work on any fanfics. Anyway, I hope everyone enjoys this next installment.

**Disclaimer:** I do not own Yu-Gi-Oh! ZEXAL.

* * *

Chapter 10: Boxers vs. Students

"To tell you the truth, I've been hoping you'd show up again so we could have this duel." Alit admitted to Anitak. "Nothing gets me more fired up than facing a worthy opponent."

"Your eagerness is about to be your undoing." Anitak told him. "Now let's begin!"

Alit nodded, and with that he quickly activated his D-Gazer and duel disk. Kotori meanwhile activated her own D-Gazer in order to watch. Anitak's left eye changed from its usual green to gold and a silver blade-like duel disk appeared on her left arm. In an instant, the color of the surrounding area changed.

"I'll go first!" Alit declared as he drew his first card. "First I set two cards face-down. Then I summon Battlin' Boxer Headgeared in Defense Mode!"

Materializing on Alit's side of the battlefield was a dark-grey humanoid figure with glowing red eyes and almost rock-like skin. He had red boxing gloves on his hands, and adorning his head was a piece of red boxing headgear.

"That ends my turn!" Alit announced.

Anitak drew her first card. "I activate the Spell card, Polymerization! From my hand I fuse Delinquent Student Calvin with Model Student Shion to summon Malicious Student Damian!"

A small transparent vortex appeared in the air above the battlefield. Two teenagers dressed in school uniforms materialized on Anitak's side of the field. The first was a young man with a freckled face, shaggy dark-blonde hair and orange eyes. His uniform consisted of a purple jacket with black trim over a rumpled white shirt, along with black slacks and brown shoes. Around the young man's neck was a loose red necktie. The second teenager was a girl with short light-green hair and purple eyes. She had on a pair of glasses with oval-shaped frames. Her uniform was made up of a white jacket with black trim over a white shirt with a red necktie, along with a green skirt and brown shoes with knee-high socks. The girl carried a blue and white textbook under her left arm.

Both teens jumped into the vortex above the battlefield. Dropping out of the vortex a moment later was a creature that looked like it had once been a young man. He had shaggy white hair and dark-grey skin. On the front of his forehead was a pair of large horns that curved back slightly. His large mouth was open to reveal a set of sharp white fangs. The creature had on the same uniform that Calvin had worn, though the shoulders of his jacket had torn holes that had grey spikes growing out of them. His fingernails were sharp black claws, and growing from his rear end was a thin grey cord-like tail with a point at the end.

"Whoa! A Fusion Monster!" Alit observed. "Now I'm really getting into this!"

"When Damian's been successfully Fusion Summoned, all of my opponent's Spell and Trap cards are destroyed." Anitak announced.

Damian let out an ear-splitting roar that caused Alit and Kotori to cover their ears. In an instant, both of Alit's large set cards shattered to bits.

"Damian gains 200 ATK for each Trap card in my opponent's Graveyard." Anitak revealed. "Right now you have two, which means Damian's ATK rises from 2300 to 2700. Next I summon Combat Student Chad in Attack Mode!"

Appearing next to Damian was a young man with long dark hair that grew down to obscure his left eye. He had on a school uniform made up of a black jacket with white trim over a white shirt with a red necktie, along with brown slacks and black shoes. The sleeves of the young man's jacket were rolled up just beneath the elbow. Both his hands and wrists were wrapped in white tape, and each hand was armed with a set of brass knuckles.

"Chad, attack Headgeared!" Anitak commanded. "Combat Knuckle!"

Chad Dashed forward and swung his right fist at Headgeared. As the fist moved through the air, it became covered in blue flames. Headgeared quickly crossed his arms in front of his face and blocked the attack.

"Your Combat Student may have 100 more ATK points than Headgeared's DEF, but Headgeared can keep himself from being destroyed in battle once per turn!" Alit announced.

"Perhaps, but because I have another Student monster on the field, Chad can attack twice during the same turn!" Anitak revealed. "Chad, attack Headgeared again! Combat Knuckle!"

With his left hand, Chad delivered a second flaming punch to Headgeared's gut. Headgeared fell to his knees and shattered into bits of light.

"Damian, attack him directly!" Anitak ordered. "Hellfire Maelstrom!"

Damian opened his jaws and let loose a blast of red-hot flames at Alit. Alit crossed his arms to shield himself from the blast and was quickly obscured by the fire. When the attack ended and the smoke cleared, a new monster was kneeling on Alit's side of the battlefield. It was humanoid and was wearing knee-high red boots and a grey mask attached with brown leather straps that completely covered his face. On his arms were the two halves of a large round yellow shield. Alit's life points were completely untouched.

"I see. So you summoned Battlin' Boxer Veil to negate the damage to your life points." Anitak observed. "Very well. I'll set one card on the field and end my turn."

_'Alit's doing really well against Anitak.'_ Kotori mentally observed. _'Of course I'm hoping that Alit will win, but it's hard to tell how this duel's going to go. They both seem pretty evenly matched.'_

Alit drew his next card. "I activate the Spell card, Spellbooks from the Pot! Now both of us get to draw three new cards!"

"You must be desperate if you're willing to play a card that allows me to refill my hand." Anitak assumed as she drew her new cards.

"Not at all. Actually, I want you to have as big an advantage as possible in this duel." Alit told her. "It'll make things a lot more thrilling when I beat you."

"You truly are an idiot." Anitak told him.

"Say what you want. You won't dampen my fighting spirit." Alit declared. "I summon Battlin' Boxer Glassjaw in Attack Mode!"

Appearing next to Veil was a muscular green humanoid with red glowing eyes wearing strange white and black shorts. He had black boxing gloves on his hands and black headgear covering his head.

"Using the level four Glassjaw and Veil, I build the overlay network and Xyz Summon a blazing hot warrior!" Alit announced. "Arise, Number 79: Battlin' Boxer Nova Kaiser!"

A large vortex in the form of a galaxy appeared in the center of the battlefield and pulled in Alit's two monsters as balls of red energy. Rising out of the vortex soon after was a large object that looked like a red armored boxing glove with gold trim. Orbiting around this object were two balls of golden light. The object quickly unfolded and changed shape, becoming a warrior clad in futuristic red and grey armor with gold trim. His eyes glowed with a green light and on the forehead of his helmet was a golden crest. On his back was a large jetpack with two large red grey wings that were also trimmed with gold. On the front of the warrior's torso in gold alien writing was the number 79.

"Is that really one of Astral's Numbers?" Kotori asked.

"I found it as a blank card here on Earth just as the Number War was heating up." Alit revealed. "Of course I didn't have a chance to use it against Yuma and Astral thanks to Vector and Don Thousand. I activate Nova Kaiser's effect! Once per turn I can take a Battlin' Boxer monster from my hand or Graveyard and attach it to Nova Kaiser as an overlay unit! And the monster I choose is Battlin' Boxer Headgeared!"

Nova Kaiser slammed the two steel knuckles on his fists together before kneeling down and punching the pavement with his right fist. A ball of fire burst out from the ground behind Alit and turned into a ball of golden light that was quickly pulled into Nova Kaiser's orbit.

"Nova Kaiser gains 100 ATK points for each of his overlay units." Alit revealed. "Which means his ATK goes up from 2300 to 2600. Now I attack Damian with Nova Kaiser! Solar Knuckle Punch!"

"Your monster is still a hundred points weaker than Damian." Anitak pointed out. "Though he will survive the battle due to his nature as a Number, what is the point of such an attack?"

"From my hand I activate a Quick-Play Spell, Overlay Blaze!" Alit announced. "When one of my Xyz Monsters attacks a monster, Overlay Blaze drops the ATK of that monster by 400 points for each of my monsters overlay units during the battle! Which means Damian's ATK drops to 1500!"

The balls of light orbiting Nova Kaiser became balls of golden flame. The futuristic boxer punched the demon student in the chest, causing a blast of gold fire to bust from his back and leave a large hole in the center of his torso. Damian turned to black ash that blew away in the wind as Anitak's life points dropped to 2900.

"I activate a Trap, Make-Up Exam!" Anitak announced. "When one of my Malicious Student monsters is destroyed, Make-Up Exam allows me to summon one of its Fusion Materials back to the field. I summon Delinquent Student Calvin!"

Calvin reappeared on Anitak's side of the battlefield in a burst of red flames.

"I now activate Calvin's effect!" Anitak announced. "When Calvin is special summoned, the battle positions of all my opponent's monsters are changed!"

Calvin smirked and swept his right leg through the air. A beam of purple light extended from his foot and knocked into Nova Kaiser's legs. The armored boxer stumbled and fell into a kneeling position.

"For each monster that's battle mode as been changed by Calvin's effect, my opponent takes 300 points of damage." Anitak announced.

A ball of purple flames appeared in Calvin's right hand, which he bounced in his palm twice before pitching it like a baseball at Alit. Alit quickly crossed his arms to shield himself and his life points took a slight drop to 3700.

"Not bad." Alit remarked. "I set two cards on the field and end my turn!"

Anitak drew her next card. "I summon Delinquent Student Marco in Attack Mode!"

Appearing on the battlefield was a young man in his mid teens with tan skin and long unkempt dark-brown hair. He had on a school uniform like Calvin's, only instead of a red tie he had a yellow bandanna tied around his neck.

"Using my three level four monsters, I build the overlay network and Xyz Summon my ultimate monster!" Anitak announced. "Arise, Number 664: Ghost Student Mary!"

A massive vortex in the form of a red galaxy appeared in the middle of the field and pulled in Anitak's three monsters as balls of purple energy. Emerging from the phenomenon a moment later was an object resembling a broken mirror with three balls of purple light orbiting around it. A pair of bony chalk-white hands burst out of the mirror, followed by a pair of arms inside pink sleeves. Coming out of the glass after the arms was a horrid-looking head of long stringy black hair. The only part of its chalk-white face that could be seen was a large red eye.

The thing soon emerged fully from the mirror and floated over the battlefield. It looked like it was female, a fact reinforced by the pink and blue school uniform it was wearing. There was a hole torn in the entity's pink jacket right below the right breast, revealing a set of ribs. Tied around each wrist was a set of two long chains that ended with hooks that rested on the ground. Glowing on the left lapel of the creature's jacket in red was the number 664. She had a very slender almost skeletal build, and her head was tilted to the right, revealing that the eye that was showing was her left one. Orbiting around the ghostly student were three balls of blue light that resembled will-o-wisps.

Kotori went completely pale upon seeing the creature. "T-that's Anitak's Number? Yuma said it looked creepy, but I had no idea it looked like this!"

"You had this planned from the beginning, didn't?" Alit asked with a confident smirk. "You were hoping that I'd destroy your Fusion Monster so you could use Calvin to set up Ghost Student Mary's effect."

"How very observant of you." Anitak responded. "I activate Ghost Student Mary's effect! By detaching one of her overlay units, I switch Nova Kaiser to Attack Mode and reduce his DEF to zero!"

One of the will-o-wisps orbiting Mary entered her eye. After tilting her head slightly forward, Mary swung her arms and flung her hooked chains at Nova Kaiser. The chains snared the armored boxer's arms and legs and forced him to stand up.

"But why drop Nova Kaiser's DEF to zero if he's in Attack Mode?" Kotori asked.

"Because any monster that fights Mary has its ATK and DEF switched during the battle." Alit explained.

"Mary, destroy Nova Kaiser!" Anitak commanded. "Phantasmal Gurdge!"

Mary's hooked chains quickly detached themselves from Nova Kaiser. The ghostly student pulled the chains back and flung them forward so that the hooks would strike Alit's monster in the chest. At the same time, several more hooked chains emerged from nowhere from behind Mary. All of the chains struck Nova Kaiser and pierced through his chest, causing the armored boxer to shatter into bits of light. The hooks kept going and struck Alit, knocking him onto his back. His life points took a heavy plunge to 500.

"It seems you are all but finished." Anitak observed.

"Don't count me out yet." Alit told her as he rose back to his feet.

Suddenly the balls of light that had been orbiting around Nova Kaiser struck the ground and created three pillars of gold flames. The flames died down to reveal Glasjaw, Headgeared and Veil.

"What? Why are your Number's three overlay units back on the field?" a surprised Anitak asked.

"When Nova Kaiser's destroyed, I can summon a Battlin' Boxer from my Graveyard for each of Nova Kaiser's overlay units." Alit explained. "And since all three of his overlay units went to the Graveyard when Nova Kaiser was destroyed, I was able to bring all three of them back."

"…I see. This was your plan the whole time, wasn't it?" Anitak deduced.

"Yep. Looks like you and I had the same kind of strategy." Alit confirmed.

"Then I shall set two cards and end my turn." Anitak announced. "It's your move."

Alit drew his next card and grinned. "Using my three level four monster, I build the overlay network and Xyz Summon my ultimate fighter! Come forth, Number 105: Battlin' Boxer Star Cestus!"

Another galaxy-like vortex appeared on the battlefield and pulled in Alit's three monsters as balls of red energy. Emerging from the vortex soon after was a large bronze object that was shaped almost like a bowtie. The object unfolded and expanded, taking the shape of a blue and grey armored warrior with golden yellow plates on his chest and legs. A golden yellow blade adorned the top of the warrior's head, and on his shoulders were two large blue armored plates trimmed a golden-yellow. The number 105 glowed in red alien writing on the armor of the warrior's right shoulder. Orbiting around the warrior were three balls of yellow light.

"Get ready, Anitak!" Alit spoke. "This is where the real fight begins!"

* * *

**Author's Note:** This chapter may have been a tad short, but it was a fun one to write. Hopefully I'll have the next chapter up in a couple of days, but it'll probably end up being longer. I'm in the final two weeks of my classes, so the heat is on.

Please review and let me know what you think.


	11. Resonating Numbers

**Author's Note:** My online classes haven't killed me yet, though there's still one week to go. Anyway, I just want to warn everyone real quick that this next chapter is going to get pretty dark. It's also going to contain a couple of very special "guest stars" though.

**Disclaimer:** I do not own Yu-Gi-Oh! ZEXAL.

* * *

Chapter 11: Resonating Numbers

"I suppose this was the most logical progression of our duel." Anitak observed. "You've summoned the one monster at your disposal that could counter my Number."

"Any monster that battles with Ghost Student Mary has its ATK and DEF switched during the battle." Alit began. "But Star Cestus' effect makes it so he can't be destroyed in battle and transfers any damage I would take to my opponent. In other words, Star Cestus is able to turn Mary's effect against you!"

"Then why not go ahead and test that power?" Anitak asked.

"Gladly!" Alit responded. "I attack Ghost Student Mary with Star Cestus and activate Star Cestus' effect! By detaching an overlay unit, I prevent Star Cestus from being destroyed in battle!"

Star Cestus began to charge across the field towards Ghost Student Mary. As he did, one of the balls of light orbiting around him went into the crest on his head.

"Did you think I would not be prepared for such an obvious strategy? I activate my Trap, Student Intimidation Tactics!" Anitak announced. "When my opponent activates a monster effect in the presence of a Student monster, Student Intimidation Tactics allows me to negate that effect and raise the ATK of one of my Student monster by 1000 points until the end of the turn!"

"I knew you'd try something like that! I activate the Counter Trap, Jolt Counter!" Alit announced. "Since I have a Battlin' Boxer on the field, Jolt Counter lets me negate the effect of your card!"

"And in response I activate a Counter Trap of my own, Trap Jammer!" Anitak announced. "This card renders your Jolt Counter useless!"

"Not bad, but I activate another Counter Trap, Counter Clash!" Alit announced. "This card negates the effect of your Counter Trap and doubles the battle damage both of us take this turn! So instead of you taking only 1600 damage, you'll be taking 3200 damage!"

"What!" Anitak exclaimed.

_'Did Alit plan this for this to happen all along?'_ Kotori mentally wondered.

"Looks like I was two steps ahead of you." Alit observed. "Take her down, Star Cestus! Stardust Impact!"

Star Cestus raised his right fist to attack as he continued his charge across the battlefield. Mary flung her hooked chains at the Star Cestus, but the hooks merely bounced off the boxer's armor. As soon as Star Cestus came in range he swung his fist, which became covered in blue flames. The fiery punch made contact with Mary's jaw, knocking the undead creature back into the air. Anitak also moved like she had been punched in the jaw as her life points plummeted to zero. Suddenly Mary seemed to explode with a blinding flash of white light that washed over the entire area.

* * *

_Alit found himself standing in the hallway of an unknown building. The place was filled with people who were just walking by and talking. From the age of the people Alit saw around him, he quickly deduced that he was in some kind of high school. What surprised him though was that the girls of this school were wearing the same uniform that Chitose wore as street clothes. The boys meanwhile were wearing a simple bluish jacket over a white shirt with long bluish pants. Everything around Alit had a deep sepia color to it, making it seem like he was inside an old movie of some kind._

_As Alit looked around to try and figure out what was going on, he suddenly saw Chitose emerge from around a corner behind him. The dark-haired girl was carrying a large stack of books in her arms. Walking in the opposite direction was a young man with slightly long unkempt blonde hair. As he started to walk past Chitose, the young man stuck out his leg, causing Chitose to trip and fall forward. All the books she was carrying were quickly spread across the floor._

_"Oops. Looks like you dropped something, bookworm." The blonde spoke with a cocky grin on his face._

_"Only because you tripped me." Chitose pointed out._

_"Yeah? Well what're you gonna do about it?" the blonde asked._

_"There's nothing for me to do but pick up my books." Chitose calmly replied as she got back to her feet and adjusted her glasses._

_As Chitose began to move to pick up her books again, the blonde stuck his foot out again, causing her to stumble. Alit found himself balling his hands into fists at his sides as he watched this go on. The blonde meanwhile was snickering at the mischief he was causing._

_"Boy, you're a real klutz today Amamiya." The blonde remarked._

_"…Please knock it off." Chitose requested in a quiet yet angry voice._

_"Huh? What was that?" the blonde asked as he put his hand to his ear. "I couldn't hear ya. Speak up."_

_"I said knock it off, Joey Wheeler!" Chitose yelled._

_Alit gasped slightly when he heard the name of the young man who was tormenting Chitose. He couldn't believe that her bully was the same legendary duelist he had heard about before and slightly admired._

_"Oh yeah? And what will you do if I don't? Huh?" Joey asked. "You gonna slap me or something? Go ahead."_

_"Leave her alone!" Alit ordered. Joey completely ignored Alit, causing the boxer duelist to storm towards him. "Are you deaf? I said…"_

_Alit stopped speaking when he tried to grab Joey's shoulder, only for his hand to pass through the blonde like he was made of air. Alit waved his hand through the back of Joey's head and got the same result. He quickly realized that what he was seeing was some kind of illusion. Chitose meanwhile was standing there doing nothing._

_"You can't do anything, can ya?" Joey observed. "Y'know Amamiya, sometimes you just really piss me off. You walk around this school acting like you're smarter than everyone. I really hate people like that."_

_"Then you must despise everyone, since I'm sure at least ninety percent of the world's population is more intelligent than an ape like you." Chitose retorted._

_"What the hell did you just say?" Joey shot back. Alit meanwhile found himself smirking at Chitose's comment._

_"Knock it off, Joey!" a voice interrupted. Everyone looked to see a young woman with brown hair cut just above her shoulders approaching._

_"Oh, it's just you Tea." Joey identified. "Why don't you mind your own business?"_

_"And why don't you just shut up and head to class?" Tea responded. "The bell's going to ring in just a few minutes. And didn't the teacher keep you after class yesterday for being late? You wouldn't want to be kept late again, would you?"_

_"…Whatever." Joey responded after a moment as he finally backed down. "I was getting bored with this anyway."_

_As Joey walked away, Chitose breathed a sigh of relief and resumed picking up her books. Tea quickly bent down and helped her._

_"Here." Tea spoke as she handed Chitose her remaining books._

_"Thank you." Chitose replied. "You're… Tea Gardner, correct?"_

_"That's right. I think this is actually the first time we've talked." Tea responded. "I kinda feel like I should apologize for Joey, since he and I are in the same class. Nice job the way you told him off."_

_"I shouldn't have done that." Chitose replied. "I let my let my temper get the better of me before."_

_"You had every right to get mad! Joey's a real jerk!" Tea told her. "I just wish a certain friend of mine would stand up to him like you did."_

_"Are you speaking of your classmate, Yugi Muto?" Chitose asked._

_"Actually, yeah." Tea admitted. "Hey, do you know Yugi?"_

_"I've never spoken to him, but I have seen him around the school." Chitose answered. "He must have a very good mental acuity due to all the puzzle games he seems to play."_

_"That's one way to think about it, I guess." Tea replied. "Well, I should get going before the bell rings. See you around."_

_Chitose nodded in reply, and with that Tea headed off down the hall while Chitose headed for her own classroom. Suddenly everything around Alit turned to mist and reformed itself into new surroundings. Alit found that that he was now standing in the middle of some kind of office waiting room. There was a secretary busy typing at a computer behind a large desk that was to the left of a polished wooden door. On the wall next to the door on Alit's right was a polished nameplate that read, Hideki Amamiya, Senior Vice President._

_At that moment, Chitose walked into the room and approached the secretary's desk. After a moment, the secretary looked away from her computer and turned to Chitose._

_"Can I help you?" the secretary asked._

_"I have an appointment to see the vice president." Chitose answered._

_"Can I get your name please?" the secretary requested._

_"Chitose Amamiya." The dark-haired girl answered._

_The secretary raised an eyebrow. "Amamiya? Are you related to the vice president?"_

_"He's my father." Chitose answered._

_"Your father?" the secretary repeated with a hint of shock. "Well… I'm sure you don't really need an appointment to see your own father."_

_"You obviously haven't been working here long." Chitose coldly replied. "Please tell him I'm here."_

_"Uh, yes. Of course." The secretary replied._

_After the secretary used the intercom to let Chitose's father know his next appointment had arrived, Chitose opened the wooden door and walked though into the next office. Alit quickly followed her inside. Sitting behind a large polished wooden desk in the office was an older man wearing a dark suit and glasses with square frames. He had dark hair that was turning grey on the sides. The man had a very stern expression on his face as he read over some papers. Chitose stepped before his desk and waited._

_"Sit down, Chitose." Hideki told her, not once looking up from his papers._

_Chitose quietly complied and sat down in the chair facing her father's desk. Both Chitose and Alit waited as Hideki continued to read the documents in front of him. After what seemed like almost five minutes, Hideki finally put down his papers and looked at Chitose._

_"What did you want to see me about, father?" Chitose asked._

_Hideki leaned forward and rested his chin on his hands. "…It's come to the attention of both your mother and I that your grades have begun to slip. This sort of thing is unacceptable. I don't think I need to remind you that your mother and I expect you to have the best grades possible so that the university will accept you."_

_"I… I know, father." Chitose replied. "It's just that I've had difficulty keeping up with the workload I've been under."_

_"That's no excuse!" Hideki shouted as he slammed the side of his fist onto the desk, causing Chitose to flinch. "This world demands us to work hard if we are to succeed, no matter how big the task! If you cannot complete the tasks assigned to you, than you are a failure!"_

_"I… I understand." Chitose told him._

_Hideki sighed and got up from his chair, turning to the wall behind his desk as he put his hands behind his back. "…I'm going to be lenient with you this time Chitose. But know that if you do not do well on your next exams, you will no longer be welcome in my house. Understand?"_

_"…Yes father." Chitose told him._

_"Good." Hideki replied as he turned back around. "Now leave. I have work to tend to."_

_Chitose nodded and began to walk towards the door. Suddenly everything around Alit turned to mist again, and soon he found himself in another place. This time Alit was in the middle of a library. He looked and saw Chitose sitting at a table a few feet away writing something into a notebook. Around her on top of the round table several books, some of which were open. Alit walked up to get a better look at Chitose. It seemed that the dark-haired girl had not had a good night's sleep in days._

_Three more young women walked up and stood before Chitose's table. The lead girl had long dark hair and seemed to be wearing lipstick._

_"Hey Amamiya." The lead girl spoke, causing Chitose to look up from what she was writing._

_"What do you want, Maya?" Chitose asked._

_"The girls and I need you to take care of our algebra homework before tomorrow." Maya told her._

_"I don't have time to do your work for you again." Chitose told her as she turned back to what she was writing. "I have too much work of my own to do as it is."_

_"Look Amamiya, I'm in no mood to mess around!" Maya told her as she slammed the desk with her palm, causing Chitose to look back up. "You either take care of work for us, or we're going to make your life at this school a living hell!"_

_"…Do whatever you like." Chitose indifferently responded after a moment. "I no longer care."_

_"…Fine then. Don't say we didn't warn you." Maya told her._

_With that, Maya and her two friends left. Everything turned to mist again and Alit found himself in another office space. From the layout, Alit determined that he was in the teachers' offices at Chitose's school. Sitting behind one of the desks was a man with slightly long brown hair and a bit of stubble on his chin, wearing a tweed jacket over a polo shirt. As the man wrote something on a piece of paper, the door to the office opened and Chitose walked in. The man looked up from what he was doing as Chitose approached his desk._

_"You wanted to see me, Mr. Kirisaki?" Chitose asked._

_"Ah, Amamiya. I wanted to talk to you about your exam." Kirisaki told her._

_"Is there something wrong with it?" Chitose asked._

_"Well, the problem is I'm not sure how to grade it." Kirisaki answered. "You see I don't want to cause you any problems, but these answers you've given… they aren't exactly perfect."_

_"I… I apologize for that." Chitose told him, as the color seemed to drain from her face. "I've been under a good deal of pressure lately."_

_"I understand. You see I know about the position you're in with your parents." Kirisaki replied. "Word gets around, you know. I'd like to help you out, but as an educational professional I can't exactly give a student any grade I feel like. There are standards I have to live up to, you know. I'm sure you can understand the bind I'm in."_

_"I understand perfectly." Chitose replied. "Is there anything I could do? Perhaps I could retake the exam?"_

_"Well… there is one thing you could do." Kirisaki told her as he stood from his chair. "That's why I asked you here. I'll make it so you pass your exam, provided you do me a small favor right here and now."_

_"What favor is that?" Chitose asked._

_At this, Kirisaki took hold of her chin. "You're a lovely young lady, Amamiya. One I've had my eye on for a while now. If you do exactly what I want you to right now, I'll give you the top score in the class."_

_"You… you want me to…" Chitose quickly realized as she backed away in horror. "I-I can't! I won't!"_

_"Now, now. Don't be so hasty, Amamiya." Kirisaki told her. "Think about the kind of problem a bad exam score will cause for your parents. A girl like you probably wouldn't do well out on the street. I'm giving you the chance to make that little problem go away right now. You'd be an idiot not to take it."_

_"Don't do it, Chitose!" Alit told her, though he knew very well that she couldn't hear him._

_"I don't have all evening, Amamiya." Kirisaki warned. "If you don't answer me soon, I'll just go ahead and grade your exam right now. So what'll it be?"_

_"…If… if it is what I must do…" Chitose began. "I suppose I have no choice."_

_"Good. I knew you'd see it my way." Kirisaki replied as he leaned against his desk. "Now, strip for me, slowly. I want to enjoy this for as long as possible."_

_Chitose slowly took off her jacket and tossed it to the ground. As she began to undo her tie, a tear rolled down her cheek. Alit tightly shut his eyes to try and avoid seeing what was to come. Soon though the surroundings changed again, and when he opened one of his eyes he saw that he was out in the yard in front of Chitose's school. When he opened his eyes fully, he saw Chitose walk past him with a sort of dead look in her eyes. Both he and Chitose soon noticed a crowd of students gathered in front of the school. The two of them walked up to the gathering to see what the commotion was about._

_"What's going on?" Chitose asked._

_The students who heard Chitose gave her an odd look and stepped aside to allow her through. Both Chitose and Alit went completely pale upon seeing what had drawn everyone in. Pinned to the bulletin board that was normally used for announcements were several pictures of Chitose standing topless in the middle of the teacher's office. Alit quickly deduced that it had been taken through the office window. Written on each picture in red ink was the word, whore._

_Chitose put her hand to her mouth to stifle a cry as she backed away in horror. As she backed away she bumped into someone who had been standing behind her. She turned around that saw that Joey was the one she had bumped into. The blonde had the same odd expression that the other students had been giving her. Chitose ran off with tears coming to her eyes. Alit attempted to run after her, but the surroundings changed yet again._

_This time Alit was standing in the middle of a restroom. He saw Chitose walk in through the door, revealing that he was in fact in the girl's restroom. It seemed he was seeing Chitose only moments after she had run away from the bulletin board. As the dark-haired girl tried to catch her breath, she walked up to the bathroom mirror. Chitose looked at her reflection for a few moments before letting out a scream and punching the glass. She hit the mirror with enough force that caused it to shatter. Suddenly a glowing white card fluttered out from behind the broken class onto the bathroom counter. Chitose noticed the card and picked it up._

_In her hand, the card stopped glowing and turned into an Xyz Monster card with the name, Number 664: Ghost Student Mary. Chitose's expression then became completely blank as she looked at her shattered image in the mirror._

_"I know what I must do." Chitose spoke._

_With her other hand, Chitose pulled a large shard of glass from the mirror. She held the shard tight enough that the sides of it drew blood. Alit desperately called for Chitose to not do what she was about to do, but all he could do was watch in horror as she slit her own throat with the glass. As her blood splattered onto the mirror and her body collapsed, the room was enveloped in another blinding flash of light._

* * *

Alit stood frozen in shock in the place where he and Anitak had just dueled as rain started to come down. Anitak meanwhile had returned to her human form of Chitose, only her hair had lost its braided ponytail and she had become as pale as a sheet. Chitose looked at Alit with a hurt and angry expression, as if she knew what he had just seen. Alit couldn't fault her for that though, as he had just witnessed things that were obviously too personal for him to see. Kotori meanwhile was looking at both of them with a confused expression.

"Chitose, I…" Alit began.

"You had no right!" Chitose shouted. "NO RIGHT!"

Before Alit could respond, Chitose let out a piercing scream and turned into a ball of red light. The light flew into a galaxy-like portal that had appeared behind her and vanished. As the portal closed, Kotori ran up to Alit.

"Alit, are you okay? What happened?" Kotori asked.

"I… I think I just saw stuff from Anitak's… from Chitose's past life." Alit answered.

"Was it because of that light that went off when your Number fought Anitak's?" Kotori asked.

"I think so." Alit answered. "It's almost like during the Number War when the Legendary Numbers would fight the 10X Numbers of us former Barians."

"But why would your Number react with Anitak's like that?" Kotori wondered.

"…I have no clue." Alit replied. "I think there's something between me and Chitose I don't know about."

* * *

Samantha sat in her lair with a scowl on her face, looking at the large crystal orb floating above the table. The orb was currently showing an image of Kotori and Alit standing in the rain. She had just witnessed the duel between Anitak and Alit. Suddenly the orb turned red and showed the silhouette of a woman with large angelic wings. Samantha knew exactly whom the silhouette belonged to.

"Hi Alnia." Samantha greeted. "I figured I'd be hearing from you shortly. I take it Ani is with you?"

_"Yeah, and she's ranting and tearing the place up."_ Alnia confirmed. _"What the hell happened over there?"_

"There was a little bit of an incident." Samantha replied. "Ani just dueled one of Don Thousand's old pawns, Alit. Not only did she lose, her Number resonated with the 10X Number held by Alit. Meaning he probably just saw bits of Ani's past life."

_"What! How the freakin' hell did that happen?"_ Alnia demanded to know.

"Well… there was this other little thing that happened during Ani's plan to kill all of Don Thousand's ex-pawns to make it easier to get to Yuma." Samantha revealed. "I didn't mention it because it didn't seem like a big thing. But after one of the psychic duelists that Ani hired screwed up, she decided to have some hot angry sex with Alit. I think she has some kind of weird love-hate crush on him or something. Anyway, it looks like whatever happened at that time was enough for a connection to be formed between Ani and Alit."

Alnia sighed and seemed to rub the bridge of her nose, or at least the spot where such an organ would be. _"That dumb bitch. Okay, looks like you're on your own now, Mitaka, since Anitak's in no shape to help you right now. You better not screw up like she did, or else you're gonna get it!"_

With that, the orb went dark. Samantha waved her hand to cause the orb to vanish and rose to her feet with a sigh.

"Well, looks like I'm going to have to move a little faster to get the Numeron Code from Yuma." Samantha said to herself. "Otherwise, Alina's going to hand my ass to me on a platter."

* * *

**Author's Note:** This last chapter is probably the darkest thing I've written to date. Anyway, I'm sure those of you reading have figured out that at least the first part of the flashback took place before Yugi solved the Millennium Puzzle. And if anyone reading thinks Joey was OOC in this chapter, even for the punk he was, you should read what he and Tristan did to Tea in one of the early chapters of the original manga. And this was _after_ Yugi solved the puzzle.

Please review and let me know what you think.


	12. The Talented Mr Gizmo

**Disclaimer:** I do not own Yu-Gi-Oh! ZEXAL.

* * *

Chapter 12: The Talented Mr. Gizmo

After the duel against Anitak, Kotori took Alit back to the Kamishiro mansion. Kotori could tell that whatever Alit had experienced after the duel had shaken him up a bit. When they arrived at the mansion, Kotori was surprised to find that Vector had let himself into the house, which he had done by picking the lock. Alit was in any sort of mood to throw him out, so Vector was allowed to stay. While they waited for the rain to let up, Kotori told Vector about everything that happened with Anitak. When it finally stopped raining, Kotori decided it was time to go and Vector showed her to the door.

"You think Alit will be okay?" Kotori asked Vector as she stepped out.

"Trust me, he'll be back to his old self by tomorrow." Vector assured her. "But I think you should be more worried about your own problems. In case you've forgotten, both you and Yuma are quickly running out of time."

"I haven't forgotten that." Kotori told him. "But I think there's some hope. Before Anitak showed up, Yuma and I took a little walk. He doesn't fully remember who I am yet, but I think he's starting to. If I can just spend a little more time alone with him…"

"I'll back you up any way I can." Vector told her.

"Thanks Vector." Kotori replied. "Well, I better be getting home now."

"Hey Kotori." Vector called, causing her to turn back around.

Vector then threw a card to Kotori, which she managed to catch and took a look at. "Rank-Up-Magic Limited Barian's Force? This is the card you gave Yuma."

"I had a spare lying around and figured you could probably use it more right now." Vector explained.

"Thanks." Kotori told him. "Well, I'll see you later then." And with that, she headed off.

* * *

The hour had grown quite late as Samantha arrived at the Wonder Cloud Toy Factory of Heartland. Moe's family owned the place, and the redhead knew that for the past few days Moe had been using the factory for some kind of project. Samantha found that the front door was unlocked and went on inside. After a short elevator trip, Samantha arrived at the basement level and went to one of the research labs that she knew Moe was using. Upon entering, Samantha found Moe wearing a white lab coat typing at a computer.

Moe quickly noticed Samantha's arrival. "Hi Sammy. Glad you came. Did you have any trouble getting in?"

"Nope. You said you had something to show me." Samantha reminded her as she walked up. "So what is it?"

"The solution to all our problems." Moe cheerfully answered as she turned her chair around.

The blunette got up and went over to a wall where she flipped a large switch. A small chamber in the lab suddenly lit up, revealing what looked like a dark-blue robot sitting in on a bulky metal throne. It was quite large and had a humanoid build. It's head was box-shaped and had a single red eye in the center of what would be considered its face, while on the sides of the head were brass-colored antennas. On the center of its box-like torso was a large green letter G. Its hands were grey and glove-like, and mounted on its left forearm was a duel disk. It had a red bowtie with yellow polka dots on its neck, and plugged into the back of the robot's head were several thin black cables. Mounted right next to the robot's right shoulder was a yellow and brass laser cannon.

"What the hell?" Samantha asked.

"I'd like you to meet Mr. Gizmo." Moe introduced. "I've been working on him on and off for the past several months. This seemed like the perfect time to finish him up."

"Okay, and how's this bucket of bolts supposed to solve everything for us?" Samantha asked.

"I've been programming him to be the perfect duelist." Moe explained. "Plus I gave him a little bit of weaponry. My plan is to send Mr. Gizmo to duel Mizuki and hopefully kill her. And while she's busy with him, I'll…." At this, Moe's face turned a bright red. "Well, let's just say I'll get what we need from Yuma."

"Okay, not bad." Samantha admitted. "And at this point, I'll try just about anything. You really think this plan will work?"

"Trust me, Sammy. I've got everything under control." Moe assured her. "The Numeron Code will be yours before you know it."

* * *

Yuma had not slept well during the night, and it wasn't simply because of the troubling dreams he had been experiencing. He had been up late trying to figure out the situation with Kotori and Anna. He didn't know why, but Yuma realized he just couldn't get Kotori out of his head. Yuma realized that there was only one solution. He had to break things off with Anna. The question was how to do that without Anna ripping his head off.

As Yuma arrived at his shoe locker, he found a note sticking out. Yuma pulled the note out and read the contents.

_'Yuma, you and I need to talk. Meet me at the place I've marked on the map I put in with this note after school. ~Kotori.'_

Yuma looked at the small map that was in the envelope with the note. There was a red X over the spot where the Wonder Cloud Toy Factory was. Yuma had no idea why Kotori wanted to meet with him at an old toy factory, but he didn't care. He found that he was quite eager to meet with her. Yuma put the note and the map in his pocket and headed for class. He wanted to get the school day over with as soon as possible. As Yuma walked off, he was completely unaware that Vector was watching him.

* * *

The afternoon was starting to get late as Kotori waited at an old abandoned playground for Yuma to show up. She had gotten a note from him earlier that morning asking her to meet him there after school. Kotori didn't know why Yuma had asked to meet with her in such a place, but she found that the fact Yuma wanted to meet with her at all to be a very good sign. Even so, Kotori couldn't help but find the note to be a little suspicious. For one thing, notes weren't exactly Yuma's style.

Before Kotori could try and figure things out further, she suddenly heard a heavy mechanical thumping noise coming towards her. She looked and saw the seven-foot-tall robot that was Mr. Gizmo walking towards her. Before Kotori could make a move, the robot fired a shot from his shoulder cannon at her feet, leaving a small crater in the ground.

"Kotori Mizuki." The thing spoke in a mechanical monotone. "You are not permitted to leave. Any attempts at escape will result in your elimination."

"What do you want?" Kotori asked.

"I have been directed to challenge you to a duel." Mr. Gizmo explained. "If you win, you will be allowed to leave. If not, you will be eliminated. There are no other options."

"Did Mitaka send you after me?" Kotori asked.

"I have no information pertaining to your inquiry." Mr. Gizmo replied. "Prepare to duel, or you shall be eliminated."

"Guess I have no choice." Kotori realized. "You're on!"

With that, Kotori activated her D-Gazer and duel disk. Mr. Gizmo activated his own duel disk in response and all at once the color of the surrounding area changed.

"I'm going first!" Kotori declared as she drew her first card. "I set two cards on the field! Then I play the Field Spell, Gagaga Academy!"

Suddenly the abandoned playground totally transformed into the front yard of a school resembling Heartland Academy, only it had a red and black color scheme. A large metal sign showing the symbol of the Gagaga monster was displayed above the front door.

"While Gagaga Academy is on the field, all Spellcaster and Warrior monsters except for Xyz, Fusion and Synchro Monsters are treated as Gagaga monsters!" Kotori announced. "Next I summon Magician's Valkyria in Defense Mode!"

Appearing on the battlefield in a kneeling position was a young woman with long brown hair and striking green eyes. Her had on a light-blue outfit similar to Magi Magi Magician Gal's that had gold trim and a short pink skirt, along with a conical hat that curved forward and had a gold wing with a green gemstone on the side. In her right hand she carried a short lavender staff that had a large hooked top adorned with three green gems. As soon as Valkyria appeared, her costume changed blue with gold trim to dark-grey with pink trim, and her skirt had turned orange. The green gem that adorned her had was replaced with a metal pink version of the Gagaga symbol.

"That ends my turn!" Kotori announced.

"Commencing turn." Mr. Gizmo announced as he drew his first card. "Analyzing… analyzing… strategy complete. Action 1: I activate Mystical Space Typhoon. Target of Mystical Space Typhoon's effect: Your right face-down card."

A small twister appeared on Kotori's side of the battlefield around one of her set cards. In seconds the large card shattered to bits and the twister disappeared.

"Destroyed card identified as Gagaga Shield." Mr. Gizmo continued. "Deduction: You were planning to combo the effects of Magician's Valkyria with Gagaga Shield to stall for time until you could summon a more powerful monster. Your strategy has been neutralized. Action 2: I summon Wind-Up Solider in Attack Mode."

Materializing on the robot's side of the field was another white and green human-shaped robot that looked like a toy. Its head split into a sleek pair of horns at the top, and each of its hands was a pair of red hooks. On its back was a large golden wind-up key.

"Action 3: I play the Continuous Spell, Wind-Up Factory." Mr. Gizmo continued. "Wind-Up Factory's effect: When I activate the effect of a Wind-Up monster, I can add another Wind-Up monster from my deck to my hand. Action 4: I activate Wind-Up Soldier's effect. Until the End Phase of this turn, Wind-Up Solider gains 400 ATK and his level is increased from four to five."

"So Wind-Up Soldier's ATK is now 2200." Kotori realized.

"Action 5: I activate the effect of Wind-Up Factory and add Wind-Up Dog to my hand." Mr. Gizmo announced as he placed a card from his deck into his hand. "Action 6: Initiate Battle Phase. Wind-Up Soldier, attack Magician's Valkyria. Wind-Up March."

"I activate my face-down card, Gagaga Dimension!" Kotori quickly announced.

Just as Wind-Up Solider headed towards Kotori's side of the battlefield, a burst of smoke went off and obscured Valkyria. When the smoke cleared, Valkyria was sticking through the middle of an ornate sarcophagus suspended by chains in the middle of a square frame.

"Since I have another Spellcaster on the field, Gagaga Dimension lets me summon another Spellcaster from my hand!" Kotori announced. "I summon Gemini Elf!"

The sarcophagus opened, allowing Valkyria to get out. Soon after, Kotori's two elf sisters emerged from the sarcophagus. Due to Kotori's Field Spell, both elf sisters went though a major costume change. The redhead had gained a purple conical hat with pink trim that curved forward, while the blonde had gained a blue conical hat with white trim. Both elves also had a pink bandanna tied around their upper arms, and on the backs of their dresses was the emblem of the Gagaga monsters.

"That's not all!" Kotori continued. "Gagaga Dimension also lets me destroy one of my opponent's monsters! And the monster I destroy is Wind-Up Solider!"

Valkyria pointed her wand at Wind-Up Solider and both elves placed their hands on it. A burst of pink light fired from the end of the wand and struck Wind-Up Solider in the torso. The toy robot exploded with a burst of fire and smoke and was gone from the field.

"Recalculating strategy…" Mr. Gizmo spoke. Kotori could hear a loud noise that sounded almost like someone typing coming from the robot duelist's head. "Recalculation complete. Beginning Main Phase 2. Action 7: I activate the Spell card, Zenmailfunction. Using this card's effect, I summon Wind-Up Soldier from the Graveyard in Defense Mode with its effects negated." The wind-up robot reappeared with a flash of green light. "Action 8: I set one card face-down. Turn complete. Your move."

Kotori drew her next card and thought for a moment about what to do. She knew she could easily summon Utopia using her two monsters, but that would leave her with only one attack. Kotori felt like she needed to end the duel with her mechanical opponent as quickly as possible, which left her with only one other option.

"I switch Magician's Valkyria to Attack Mode!" Kotori announced. "Then I equip her with the Spell card, Wonder Wand!"

Valkyria's staff glowed with a green light and changed shape. In moments it had become a slender polished black staff with a round green gem mounted on the top. The piece of silver that attached the gem to the staff was carved to look like it had the face of a skull on the front.

"Wonder Wand increases Valkyria's ATK from 1600 to 2100!" Kotori continued. "Gemini Elf, attack Wind-Up Solider! Rose Storm!"

"Counterattack: I activate the Trap, Overwind." Mr. Gizmo announced. "Overwind doubles the ATK and DEF of Wind-Up Solider until the end of the turn."

The key in the toy robot's back turned several times, causing it to stand completely upright and green spirals to appear in its eyes. The elf sisters raised their arms towards the robot and fired a blast of rose petal-filled wind. The attack merely bounced off Wind-Up Solider's chest and went back towards the elves. The sisters were knocked onto their butts and Kotori took the rest of the blast. Her life points took a slight drop to 3500.

"Observation: You can no longer make any attacks without doing more damage to your life points." Mr. Gizmo spoke. "You most optimal action at the moment is to end your turn."

_'It's right.'_ Kotori mentally admitted. _'There's nothing more I can do right now.'_

"Make your move." Mr. Gizmo ordered.

"I… I end my turn." Kotori announced.

"With the completion of your turn, the secondary effect of Overwind returns Wind-Up Solider to my hand." Mr. Gizmo announced. The toy robot vanished with a flash of green light. "Initiating turn. Action 1: I activate the Spell card, Card of Sanctity. Both players draw until they have six cards in their hands. Action 2: I summon Wind-Up Solider in Attack Mode." Wind-Up Solider reappeared on the battlefield. "Action 3: I activate the Spell card, Double Summon. This card allows me to conduct a second normal summon during this turn. Action 4: I summon Wind-Up Dog in Attack Mode."

Appearing next to Wind-Up Solider was a blue and white mechanical dog that looked like a sort of toy. On its back was a large golden wind-up key like the one in the back of Wind-Up Solider.

"Action 5: I activate the effect of Wind-Up Solider." Mr. Gizmo announced. "Wind-Up Soldier's ATK increases by 400 and his level rises from four to five. Action 6: I activate the effect of Wind-Up Factory and add a second Wind-Up Solider to my hand. Action 7: I activate the effect of Wind-Up Dog. Until the End Phase of this turn, Wind-Up Dog's ATK is increased by 600 and his level is raised from three to five."

"Now it has two level five monsters!" Kotori realized.

"Observation correct." Mr. Gizmo confirmed. "Action 8: I use my two level five monsters to Xyz Summon Wind-Up Arsenal Zenmaioh."

A green vortex appeared in the middle of the battlefield and pulled in Mr. Gizmo's two monsters as balls of yellow energy. Rising out of the vortex a moment later was a large humanoid robot with two balls of green light orbiting around it. The machine was mostly red in color and looked as though it was made up of multiple robots that had been combined together. Its right arm ended with a large drill that looked like the coil of a spring, while its left forearm was a sort of large claw attached to a pair of glowing green springs. Its head was green and white with glowing red eyes, and on the front of its torso were large pointed white plates with a pair of red and purple wings on the front of the chest.

"Action 9: I activate the Spell card, Rank-Up-Magic Rune Force." Mr. Gizmo announced. "I use Wind-Up Arsenal Zenmaioh to rebuild the overlay network and Xyz Summon Rune Mystic Wind-Up Death Zenmaioh."

The glowing orange symbol of the Rune Mystic monsters appeared on the ground under Zenmaioh's feet and shot a pillar of orange light into the air. After a moment the light faded to reveal the robot in a new form. Its body had turned mostly black, and on its back was a pair of red plane-like wings with two large rocket engines mounted on the middle of each one. Its red chest was styled to look like the face of a demon with yellow eyes and a pointed face with small protruding white fangs. Near each shoulder was a large black pointed blade to make the face on the chest look like it had horns. The robot's head had become like a white skull with two large curved horns. The Rune Mystic symbol glowed red on the front of its waist. Orbiting around the machine were three balls of orange flame.

"Action 10: I activate the effect of Death Zenmaioh." Mr. Gizmo announced. "By detaching an overlay unit, Death Zenmaioh destroys all Spell and Trap cards my opponent controls."

One of the fireballs orbiting Death Zenmaioh entered the Rune Mystic Symbol on its waist. The large robot fired two beams of crimson light from its eyes that struck the ground and caused a massive explosion of white light. When the light faded, Gagaga Academy had vanished and both Kotori and her mechanical opponent were back in the abandoned playground. Both of Kotori's monsters had returned to their original forms, and Valkyria once again had her original staff.

"Action 11: When the effect of Death Zenmaioh is used, I am able to summon a Wind-Up monster for each destroyed card." Mr. Gizmo announced. "I summon Wind-Up Knight."

Appearing on the battlefield was a white and gold mechanical knight. On its back was a pair of white folded metal wings, in between which was a large gold wind-up key. Attached to the knight's right hand was a short sword, and mounted on its left arm was a round white shield with small golden gears attached to the sides and a blue gear-like symbol on the front.

"Due to the effect of Rune Force, all of your monsters have lost 1000 ATK." Mr. Gizmo reminded Kotori. "Action 12: Initiate Battle Phase. Wind-Up Knight, attack Magician's Valkyria. Wind-Up Sword."

The mechanical knight marched over to Valkiria and with one mechanical motion slashed her across the chest with its blade. Valkyria cried out before shattering into bits of light. Kotori's life points too a steep drop to 2300.

"Death Zenmaioh, attack Gemini Elf." Mr. Gizmo commanded. "Wind-Up Armageddon."

The mouth of the face on the giant robot's chest opened and fired several black missiles down at Gemini Elf. The resulting explosion vaporized the elf sisters and knocked Kotori onto her back. When the smoke cleared, she only had 100 life points left.

"Prediction: You are about to lose." Mr. Gizmo declared. "Your current hand does not seem to have any cards to counter my strategy. The odds of you drawing such a card are calculated at 3.1 percent."

"Just tell me one thing." Kotori spoke as she got back to her feet. "Has anything happened to Yuma? I was supposed to meet him here and ended up meeting you. Where is he?"

"Processing inquiry…" Mr. Gizmo responded. "Answer: Yuma Tsukumo has been lured to the base of my creator for the purposes of extracting the Numeron Code."

"So… that means Mitaka or one of her followers has him?" Kotori realized as a feeling of panic rose within her.

"Correct." The robot confirmed in his cold monotone.

"Then I have to beat you to save him!" Kotori declared.

"Statement: It is impossible for your to defeat me." Mr. Gizmo declared. "My databanks have been programed with your past duel strategies. Additionally, my deck has been configured to counter all possible strategies you might use. Summation: Your resistance is futile."

* * *

**Author's Note:** The whole reason for this chapter was because I realized a little while back that while Kotori is the main character of this story, she hasn't dueled all that much. So I came up with the odd little idea of having Kotori duel a robot built by Moe. The idea kind of stems from K.I.T.T. RIDER's original idea of Moe being a computer hacker of some kind. This duel was kind of a challenging one to right since I've never used the Wind-Up monsters before. I do have a bunch of Wind-Up cards in my collection though.

At this point I should also mention a change made to this chapter on May 16, 2017. It's the same change I had to make to Chapter 3 due to my whole Magical Dimension blunder. Because the Gagaga Dimension Spell I came up with as a replacement only worked with Gagaga monsters, I realized that caused kind of a major issue with this chapter because Kotori didn't use Magical Dimension with a Gagaga monster this time around. To avoid doing major surgery to this chapter, I came up with the idea of the Gagaga Academy Field Spell. To be honest, I've wished that such a Field Spell actually existed ever since that Gagaga Academy Emergency Network was revealed.

Please review and let me know what you think.


	13. The Rune Queen

**Author's Note:** Well, I'm finally done with my online classes for the semester. For anyone who might be curious, I think I passed my final exams. Though I didn't exactly come away from either with a hundred percent. Anyway, I should hopefully be able to get this story done before the start of my summer class.

**Disclaimer:** I do not own Yu-Gi-Oh! ZEXAL.

* * *

Chapter 13: The Rune Queen

Yuma arrived at the front gate of the Wonder Cloud Toy Factory. He kept wondering why Kotori wanted to meet with him at such a place, but at that moment decided to ask her when they met up. Yuma took a deep breath and prepared to step through the gate. Before he could though, Yuma felt someone tap him on the shoulder. He turned around and saw Vector standing behind him.

"Hi there, Yuma." Vector greeted with a huge grin and a wave.

"Uh, hi." Yuma replied. "Who are you? And how do you know my name?"

"I'm Vector, Kotori's cousin." The redhead replied as he shook Yuma's hand. "Kotori's told me a lot about you."

"She has?" Yuma asked.

"Oh of course. She won't stop talking about you." Vector answered.

"Really?" Yuma responded, his face turning a bit red. "Wow! Uh, so are you here to meet with her too then?"

"Why would I be meeting her here?" Vector asked with a raised eyebrow.

"Kotori sent me this note asking her to meet here." Yuma explained, handing Vector the note. "Not sure why though. Maybe she's friends with someone who owns the place or something."

"…I hate to tell you this, Yuma. But this isn't Kotori's handwriting." Vector told him. "Looks like someone's trying to pull a fast one on you."

"What! But who would do that?" Yuma asked. "And why?"

"Dunno." Vector shrugged. "But I do know that Kotori is at the school library trying to study for some assignment. I should know, since I just popped in on her there just a little while ago."

"But then who…" Yuma began to ask, but before he could finish he felt a burning pain in his chest almost like something was tearing him apart from the inside.

Yuma winced and put his hand on his chest. Vector instantly noticed Mitaka's curse mark glowing through his shirt.

"Maybe you should go home." Vector suggested. "You're not looking too good right now."

"Yeah, that's probably a good idea." Yuma agreed. "I'll see ya around, I guess."

With that, Yuma began to walk back towards his house. Vector kept a sharp eye on Yuma until he was out of sight.

"Looks like we're running out of time." Vector noted before turning back to the toy factory. "Right now though, I think I better take care of the person who sent Yuma that little invite to Yuma before she can get her hooks into him." And with that, he headed into the factory.

* * *

"Action 13: I set one card on the field and end my turn." Mr. Gizmo announced in his mechanical monotone. "Your move."

Kotori drew her next card. "First I activate the Spell card, Dian Keto the Cure Master and raise my life points by a thousand!" Sparkling gold lights showered down onto Kotori and increased her life points to 1100. "Next I activate the Spell card, Gagaga Academy Emergency Network! Since I don't have any monster on the field, Emergency Network lets me summon a Gagaga monster from my deck. So I summon Gagaga Magician!"

The glowing red emblem of the Gagaga monsters appeared on the ground in front of Kotori. A pillar of red light shot up from the emblem, fading to reveal the silver-haired magician.

"I summon Gagaga Girl in Attack Mode!" Kotori announced. The blonde magical girl appeared on the battlefield next to Gagaga Magician. "Next I activate Gagaga Magician's effect and raise his level from four to six. Then I activate Gagaga Girl's effect and change her level to match Gagaga Magician's. Now I overlay my level six monsters and Xyz Summon Magi Magi Magician Gal!"

A vortex appeared in the middle of the battlefield and pulled in Kotori's monsters as balls of purple energy. Moments later the Magician Gal rose out of the middle of the vortex.

"And now for Gagaga Girl's other effect!" Kotori announced. "Since she was used for an Xyz Summon, I can reduce the attack of Death Zenmaioh to zero!"

"Counterattack: I activate the Trap card, Rune Veil." Mr. Gizmo announced. "Because you have attempted to use a card effect on a Rune Mystic monster, Rune Veil prevents all my monsters from being affected by your card effects until the End Phase of this turn."

The ghostly image of Gagaga Girl appeared around one of the balls of light orbiting Magician Gal and fired a beam of light from her smart phone at Death Zenmaioh. Before the beam could hit though, both the giant robot and Wind-Up Knight began to glow with an orange aura that repelled the beam.

"Observation: My calculations were correct." Mr. Gizmo remarked. "Based on data from your previous duel, I predicted that your most likely tactic would be to use the combo of Gagaga Girl and Magi Magi Magician Gal to defeat Death Zenmaioh. Your strategy has been neutralized."

_'And Rune Veil prevents me from using Magician Gal's effect to take control of his monsters, too.'_ Kotori mentally realized.

"Continue your turn." Mr. Gizmo ordered.

"…Magician Gal! Attack Wind-Up Knight!" Kotori commanded. "Dark Blazing Magic!"

Magician Gal took aim with her wand and fired a cracking ball of pink energy at the mechanical toy knight. Wind-Up Knight exploded in a blast of smoke and flames. Mr. Gizmo's life points took a small plunge to 3400.

"Observation: Your last move has changed nothing." Mr. Gizmo declared. "I still have the advantage with Death Zenmaioh on the field."

"I know that!" Kotori told him. "But… it's the best I can do right now. I end my turn."

* * *

Moe spent several minutes checking her reflection in the mirror of one of the restrooms at the factory. Besides her glasses, the only thing that the blunette had on was a black silk robe that showed off her legs. Moe wanted to make sure she looked perfect for her little date with Yuma. The truth was she had always had a bit of a crush on Yuma ever since her won the World Duel Carnival, but had never had the guts to approach him. Then one day Kotori had swooped in and ruined any of her chances, but all that had changed thanks to Mitaka. Now Moe could make Yuma her own with no one to stand in her way.

Finally satisfied with her appearance, Moe left the restroom and headed to the lab where she had set up an intimate little meal for her and Yuma before the moment of her conquest. She had also put up little signs in the halls to make sure Yuma could find his way there. By the time Moe got down to the lab though, she was shocked to find Vector sitting at the table she had set up. The redhead had already eaten half the food she had set out.

After a moment, Vector noticed Moe standing in the doorway and waved. "Hey there. Hope you don't mind that I helped myself to something to eat. I skipped lunch today because I was following Yuma."

"Who… who are you?" Moe demanded to know.

"The name's Vector." The redhead answered as he got up. "And I'm afraid Yuma won't be joining us."

"What do you mean?" Moe asked.

"I was able to get to Yuma before you could and sent him away." Vector explained. "I had to lie to him a bit of course, but that's nothing new. It can't really be helped anyway, thanks to Mitaka messing with his mind."

"You had no right to butt in!" Moe told him.

"I'd have to disagree with you on that, lady. But that'd be kind of a pointless argument." Vector responded. "All you need to know is that I'm here to keep you from getting Yuma."

"…You're right. An argument would be pointless." Moe agreed after a moment as she walked over to a table and picked up a duel disk. "It seems there's only one way to settle this."

"You read my mind." Vector agreed. "Shall we get started?"

"Not here." Moe told him. "There's another place in the factory where we can cut loose."

"Lead on then." Vector replied.

* * *

"Commencing turn." Mr. Gizmo announced as he drew his first card. "Action 1: I summon Wind-Up Solider in Attack Mode." A second robotic solider like the one the mechanical duelist summoned before appeared on the battlefield. "Action 2: I activate Wind-Up Solider's effect, increasing his ATK to 2200 and raising his level from four to five until the end of the turn. Action 3: I activate the effect of Wind-Up Factory and add a third Wind-Up Solider from my deck to my hand. Action 4: Initiate Battle Phase. Death Zenmaioh, attack Magi Magi Magician Gal. Wind-Up Armageddon."

The giant robot fired another barrage of black missiles from the mouth of the large face on his chest. The missiles struck the Magician Gal and destroyed her in a massive explosion that knocked Kotori onto her back. Her life points took a steep drop to 400. As the smoke cleared, Kotori managed to get back to her feet.

"Wind-Up Solider, attack the opponent directly." Mr. Gizmo commanded. "Wind-Up March."

"Not so fast!" Kotori cut in. "Since you're attacking me directly, I summon Gagaga Guardna from my hand in Defense Mode!"

Suddenly appearing on Kotori's side of the battlefield was a warrior clad in a long black coat over grey chest armor, along with black gloves and long black jeans. An orange bandanna covered the lower half of his face, and atop his head was a black and grey helmet with goggles on it. In his left hand, the warrior carried a large black and orange shield with pointed yellow stripes on the lower half. As soon as the warrior appeared, Wind-Up Solider stopped his march.

"Recalculating… recalculating…" Mr. Gizmo spoke. "Turn complete. Your move."

_'If I can't end this duel now, I'm done for.'_ Kotori thought as she closed her eyes.

Taking a deep breath, Kotori drew the next card from her deck. When she opened her eyes, she saw that the card was Rank-Up-Magic Limited Barian's Force.

_'This is the card Vector gave me!'_ Kotori recalled. _'But I can't use it now. Or wait… maybe I can.'_

"Proceed with your turn." Mr. Gizmo ordered.

"I activate the Spell card, Xyz Revenge!" Kotori announced. "Since you have an Xyz Monster on the field, I can summon Magi Magi Magician Gall from the Graveyard and attach one of Death Zenmaioh's overlay units to her!"

Another vortex appeared in the middle of the field and the Magician Gal rose out of it. Soon after, one of the balls or flame orbiting Death Zenmaioh was pulled into Magician Gal's orbit and became a ball of purple light.

"I activate one of Magi Magi Magician Gal's effects!" Kotori announced. "By detaching an overlay unit and banishing one card from my hand, I can summon a monster from my opponent's Graveyard. And the monster I choose is Wind-Up Knight!"

The ball of light orbiting Magician Gal entered the brooch on her chest. The magical girl closed her eyes as the small ankh-like tattoo on her chest just above the brooch glowed with a white light. Magician Gal placed her hand on her chest and a larger version of the ankh symbol began to glow on the ground next to Gagaga Guardna. A beam of light shot up from the symbol, fading to reveal the mechanical toy knight.

"I use the level four Gagaga Guardna and Wind-Up Knight to Xyz Summon Number 39: Utopia!" Kotori announced.

A large vortex in the form of a galaxy appeared in the middle of the battlefield and pulled in the two monsters as balls of golden energy. A moment later a large white sword with two balls of golden light orbiting it rose out and changed into Utopia.

"Observation: The presence of Number 39: Utopia changes nothing." Mr. Gizmo declared.

"That's where you're wrong!" Kotori told him. "With Utopia, anything can become possible! And I'm going to prove that right now! I activate Rank-Up-Magic Limited Barian's Force! Using Utopia, I rebuild the overlay network and Xyz Summon Number C39: Utopia Ray V!"

Utopia folded back into his sword form and disappeared back into a new vortex. A second later a new black sword styled with the Barian Emblem rose out of it and began to change shape. In moments Utopia stood on the battlefield in a new form. Most of his armor had turned black and had taken on a more sinister look. His shoulder plates had become rimmed at the bottom with large red pieces that curved upward and came to a point. His knees had become covered in red armor as well, and his upper legs glowed with sections of glowing crimson energy. The sides of Utopia's head had gained long silver horns, and the blades of his two swords had become curved. On the ground around Utopia Ray V were three red crystals covered in gold plates.

"Error! Error!" Mr. Gizmo repeated. "There is no data on such a card being in your possession!"

"That's because I just got it." Kotori replied. "I activate Utopia Ray V's effect! By detaching an overlay unit, I can destroy an opponent's monster and inflict damage equal to that monster's ATK! And the monster I choose is Death Zenmaioh!"

One of the crystals on the ground shattered and Utopia Ray V brought the handles of his sword together to create a single bladed weapon. The armored warrior threw the weapon at Death Zenmaioh. The blade cut all the way through through the giant robot's midsection, causing a massive explosion on Mr. Gizmo's side of the field. The mechanical duelist's life points dropped to 300. The bladed weapon spun back towards Utopia Ray V, who easily caught it in his hand.

"Error! Error!" Mr. Gizmo repeated as sparks began to shoot from the base of his neck.

"Utopia Ray V, attack Wind-Up Solider!" Kotori commanded. "Hope Sword Victory Chaos Slash!"

Utopia Ray V split his weapon apart and charged at Wind-Up Solider. The warrior cut into the toy robot's body with his swords, causing it to explode. Mr. Gizmo's remaining life points dropped to zero. With the duel at an end, both of Kotori's monsters vanished.

"ERROR! ERROR! ERROR!" Mr. Gizmo repeated in a high-pitched voice before his head literally exploded.

Mr. Gizmo's body fell forward and hit the ground with a large metal thud. Kotori breathed a sigh of relief.

_'Now that that's over, I need to figure out where Yuma went.'_ Kotori decided. _'I better call Kaito and tell him what's happened. I just hope Yuma's okay.'_

* * *

Moe led Vector into a large room that was the factory's automated assembly line. All around were conveyer belts with pieces of unfinished toys. All of the machines were off, waiting for the time workers would normally come in to supervise their operation and make sure no defects escaped the assembly line.

"I think this place will be more than suitable for us." Moe declared.

"Works for me." Vector agreed. "Let's get started."

With that, Vector activated his D-Gazer while Moe activated the D-Gazer built into her glasses. Once they both activated their duel disks, the color of assembly line room changed.

"Since you picked the spot where we're dueling, I'll kick things off." Vector declared as he drew his first card. "First I set one card on the field. Then I summon Umbral Horror Wraith in Defense Mode!"

Appearing on Vector's side of the battlefield was a figure clad in a tattered hooded cloak. It had boney chalk-white hands, and the only part of its face that could be seen was a single circle with white light that seemed to act as its eye.

"That ends my turn."

Moe drew her first card. "Before I do anything, I activate Mystical Space Typhoon and destroy that card you set on the field!"

A whirlwind appeared around Vector's large card and shattered it to bits before vanishing. Before the card was destroyed, Moe was able to see its identity.

"You were going to try and use Crush Card on me?" Moe asked with a raised eyebrow. "That's a rather outdated move, though it might've caused me a few problems if it had succeeded."

"Hey, the classics never go out of style." Vector told her with a shrug.

"Perhaps, but you'll need much better moves than that against someone like me." Moe declared.

"I think you're probably right." Vector agreed. "If anything, I can tell that you seem to be the cautious type."

"You hardly know anything about me." Moe told him. "For my next move I summon Madolche Magileine in Attack Mode!"

Appearing on Moe's side of the field was a doll-like monster resembling a witch with long plum-colored hair dressed in a purple and white dress with a large conical purple hat. In place of a broom she had a large fork with a mound of white frosting at the end that was decorated with flowers. The witch hovered over a slice of cake that was cut like a puzzle piece and made to look like a cemetery.

"Since I just summoned Magiliene, I can add another Madolche monster to my hand." Moe announced. "Now I play the Spell card, Double Summon, and use the extra normal summon I've just gained to summon Madolche Marmalmaide!"

Appearing next to the purple witch was another doll-like monster in the form of a maid with red hair holding what looked to be a black book on manners. She was sitting atop a large jar of marmalade that was on a large white cookie with cream filling that was cut like a puzzle piece.

"I use my two level four monsters to Xyz Summon the queen of the Madolche monsters!" Moe announced. "Come forth, Madolche Queen Tiaramisu!"

A yellow vortex appeared in the middle of the battlefield and pulled in Moe's monsters as balls of orange energy. Rising out of the vortex was yet another doll-like monster in the form of a silver-haired queen. She was clothed in yellow, chocolate-brown and black, and she sat on an ornate throne decorated with pieces of candy. The throne was sitting atop a decorative slice of cake cut in the shape of a puzzle piece. Small woodland creatures that were colored like candy tended to the queen, and orbiting around her were two balls of orange light.

"Let me guess, now you're going to use that one Rank-Up-Magic card that your friends have been using on their monsters." Vector assumed.

"Not quite." Moe revealed with a sinister smirk. "Sammy gave me a special Rank-Up card to use, one that's a bit more powerful that the ones you and your friends know about. I activate Rank-Up-Magic Royal Rune Force! This card lets me use an Xyz Monster to summon either a Rune Mystic monster or a Rune Queen! So I use Tiaramisu to Xyz Summon an absolute queen of dark magic! Arise, Madolche Rune Queen Terrormisu!"

A glowing red version of the Rune Mystic symbol appeared beneath the floating puzzle piece cake that Tiaramisu's throne sat on and shot a pillar of red light into the air. The light soon faded to reveal the Modolche queen in a new form. Her skin had turned pale and her eyes had become blood red. Silver armor with black trim covered her chest and her dress had changed from orange to red. Atop her head between a pair of small black horns that had sprouted was a silver crown with the Rune Mystic symbol glowing on the front, and in her right hand she held a long silver scepter with a red crystal adorning the top. Her throne had turned black and the back of it had become covered in thorny vines. The small woodland creatures that had been attending to the queen had become feral with glowing red eyes, and orbiting around her were three red balls of fire.

Suddenly Moe cried out, causing Vector to look past her monster. Moe's blue hair had grown past her shoulders and the Rune Mystic symbol was glowing on the front of her forehead. After a moment the blunette looked back at Vector with an insane grin.

"Well, this is turning out a little differently than I expected." Vector remarked.

"You made a mistake getting in my way." Moe told the redhead. "By the time I'm done, the walls of this place will be decorated in your blood!"

* * *

**Author's Note:** So while one duel has ended, another duel has only just begun. I actually had a really hard time with Vector and Moe's duel, mainly because for a while I had no clue what kind of deck Moe should use. The Madolche monsters were my first thought, but it created a name problem for the Rune Mystic monster Moe was supposed to use. So I came up with the whole Rune Queen concept as a perhaps less than perfect solution.

Please review and let me know what you think.


	14. Vector's Bond

**Disclaimer:** I do not own Yu-Gi-Oh! ZEXAL.

* * *

Chapter 14: Vector's Bond

Kotori passed nervously in front of the still smoking headless body of Mr. Gizmo. Every second she waited for Kaito, Kotori wondered if Mitaka or one of her followers had already gotten her hooks into Yuma. At long last she spotted Kaito flying towards her in the distance. As soon at the photon duelist landed, Orbital 7 detached himself from Kaito's back and went over to Mr. Gizmo's remains. Kotori meanwhile ran up to Kaito.

"We have to find Yuma!" Kotori told him. "That robot I was dueling told me that Mitaka's lured Yuma into a trap!"

"Relax, it's been taken care of." Kaito assured her. "Vector got to Yuma before Mitaka could."

"Vector? How?" Kotori asked.

"He decided to keep tabs on Yuma this morning and has been following him all day." Kaito explained. "Right now he's probably dealing with one of Mitaka's servants. In the meantime, it looks like you were able to hold your own against that robot."

"Well, he was kinda tough." Kotori replied.

"I probably could've d-dueled circles around this piece of junk." Orbital 7 quietly remarked.

"Anyway, I think I should go find Yuma." Kotori decided.

"That's probably for the best." Kaito agreed. "We're running out of time anyway."

"You don't know the half of it, Tenjo." A familiar voice interrupted. Kotori and Kaito looked to see Samantha standing a few feet away.

"Mitaka!" Kotori spoke. "What're you doing here?"

"Can't a girl swing by to chat?" Samantha responded. "I have to say, birdie-girl. You and your friends are turning out to be more trouble than I thought you'd be. But then I wasn't expecting the Envoy of Astral World to loan out some of his Numbers."

"Underestimating Astral and all of us was the biggest mistake you could've made!" Kaito told her. "Now if you've come here for a fight, I'm willing to take you on!"

"Oh please, I'm not crazy enough to face someone like you without backup." Samantha chuckled. "I just came to tell the both of you that Yuma's off limits for the night. I've placed a little barrier around his neighborhood that won't wear off until morning. You can confirm it for yourself later."

"So… I can't go to Yuma's house?" Kotori asked.

"Nope. You won't have another shot at him until tomorrow." Samantha answered. "And as I'm sure you know, it'll be the last shot you'll have at him. My curse is working on Yuma a little faster than I thought. At the rate it's progressing, he'll be dead by sunset tomorrow."

"I won't let that happen!" Kotori declared. "I've save Yuma from you and that damn curse of yours!"

"You're welcome to try, birdie-girl." Samantha replied. "In the meantime, the last member of my little coven should be wiping the floor with Don Thousand's psycho puppet boy. I gave her a little bit of a power boost before this little plan of hers got started. Your friend, Vector doesn't stand a chance."

"Even if Vector does fall, you can't beat all of us!" Kaito declared.

"Maybe not, but time is on my side." Samantha replied. "Until tomorrow, birdie-girl." With that, Samantha let out a wicked laugh as she disappeared in a burst of red smoke.

"Now what're we supposed to do?" Kotori asked.

"For now all we can do is go back to the tower and prepare for tomorrow." Kaito answered. "In the meantime, let's just hope Vector can at least beat whoever Mitaka's last servant is."

* * *

"Terrormisu, obliterate his monster!" Moe commanded. "Sugarplum Nightmare!"

The wicked desert queen aimed her scepter at Vector's hooded monster and blasted it with bolts of red lighting. In seconds Umbral Horror Wraith shattered to bits. But despite his monster being destroyed, a grin appeared on Vector's face.

"Thanks for that." Vector told Moe. "Since Umbral Horror Wraith was destroyed, I can exchange three cards in my hand for three Umbral Horror monsters from my deck."

"Wait! So… were you even planning to use Crush Card before?" Moe asked.

"Maybe, maybe not." Vector answered. "You'll never know for sure."

Moe gritted her teeth in annoyance. "Whatever. I set one card on the field and end my turn!"

Vector drew his next card. "I summon Umbral Horror Ghost in Attack Mode!"

Materializing on Vector's side of the battlefield was a slender shadowy creature with chalk-white hands and long unkempt light-green hair. Its outfit was nothing more than tattered brown rags and the only feature of its face that could be seen was a pair of glowing yellow eyes.

"Since I have an Umbral Horror monster on the field, I can special summon a second Umbral Horror Ghost along with a third from my hand!" Vector announced. Two more green-haired specters appeared on the battlefield.

"I get it. You used Umbral Horror Wraith's effect to put all three copies of that ghost in your hand." Moe realized.

"That's right! And now I use my three level two monsters to build the overlay network and Xyz Summon an old associate of mine!" Vector announced. "Arise, Number 96: Dark Mist!"

A vortex in the form of a galaxy appeared in the center of the field and pulled in Vector's three monsters as balls of purple energy. Rising out of the vortex a moment later was a sort of black blob orbited by three balls of purple light. In an instant the blob changed shape, gaining arms and legs that ended with large white claws, along with a long tail with a bladed end. On the front of the creature's torso was a horrid face made up of two eyes made of red flame and a large fang mouth. On the top of the torso where a head would normally be was a horned crest that had the number 96 in purple alien writing on the front of the base.

"I gotta say. This Number has become a hell of a lot easier to get along with since Don Thousand died." Vector remarked.

"Just what do you expect to do with a monster that only has 100 ATK?" Moe asked.

"When Dark Mist battles a monster, he cuts the ATK of that monster in half and adds half that ATK to his own." Vector explained. "So I detach an overlay unit from Dark Mist and have him attack Terrormisu!"

"I don't think so!" Moe declared as Dark Mist consumed one of the balls or light orbiting around him. "I activate Terrormisu's effect! By detaching an overlay unit when she's attacked, Terrormisu returns the attacking monster to my opponent's hand! Although in your case, that Number of yours goes back to the Extra Deck!"

Just as Dark Mist was about to attack, one of the fireballs orbiting Terrormisu entered the gemstone in her crown. Terrormisu waved her scepter and bombarded the shadowy creature with sparkling red lights. Dark Mist froze and vanished with a flash of red light.

"That's not all." Moe continued. "Now we both have to shuffle our current hands into our decks and draw a new set of cards, and we have to summon any monster we draw to the field. I summon Madolche Puddingcess and Madolche Anjelly in Attack Mode!"

Two more doll-like monsters appeared on Moe's side of the field. The first was a princess-like monster with long curly blonde hair wearing an ornate white dress standing atop a slice of cake cut in the shape of a puzzle piece. The second monster was an almost fairy-like creature with long brown hair and. She had on a white dress and two small wings on her back. The fairy hovered above a pink puzzle piece with large pieces of candy embedded in it.

"You're turning out to be a real tricky opponent." Vector remarked. "Fine then! I summon Umbral Horror Ghoul, Umbral Horror Unform and Umbral Horror Will o' the Wisp in Defense Mode!"

Three new monsters appeared on Vector's side of the field. The first was a purple almost shadowy demon with red eyes and an armored face. On the demon's hunched back was a long tattered green cape. The second creature was a shadowy black mass resembling a blob. Towards the top of the mass on the front was a circle of blue light that could be considered an eye over a piece of red armor that looked almost like a jaw. The third monster Vector summoned was a single ball of bluish-white flames.

"When Terrormisu uses her effect, any changes made to her ATK before the effect was used are reversed." Moe announced. "Meaning her ATK returns to 2800. More importantly though, since she has Tiaramisu as an overlay unit, Terrormisu inflicts 200 points of damage for each Madolche monster I've just summoned!"

With an evil grin on her face, Terrormisu raised her scepter and fired a single bolt of red lightning into the air. The bolt came back down and struck Vector, causing his life points to drop to 3600. Moe laughed with mad glee as Vector fell to one knee.

"What's the matter, big boy? Things getting to hot for ya?" Moe taunted.

"Not at all." Vector answered as he got back to his feet. "In fact I'm starting to like where this duel's going. I'll set one card on the field and end my turn!"

Moe drew her next card. "I activate the Spell card, Resonance Device! Because Puddincess and Anjelly are of the same Type and Attribute, Resonance Device allows me to match their levels. So I change Anjelly's level to match the level of Puddingcess!" Two beams of green light shot up from the ground and enveloped Puddingcess and Anjelly. "Now using my two level five monsters, I Xyz Summon Madolche Puddingcess Choco a la Mode!"

A vortex appeared in the middle of the field and pulled in Moe's two monsters as balls of purple energy. Moments later Puddingcess rose out of the vortex wearing a new black dress with white trim. The desert princess was standing atop a puzzle piece-shaped slice of cake with pieces of cake sticking out of it. Orbiting around the princess were two balls of pink light.

"Next I summon Madolche Chouxvalier in Attack Mode!" Moe announced.

Appearing on the field was a blonde doll-like warrior wearing the black and gold coat and hat of a French nobleman. Adorning his hat was a large red feather, and in his right hand was a candy cane sword. The warrior rode atop a blue stuffed animal-like horse with a green mane and tail that was standing atop a puzzle piece-shaped chocolate cookie with cream filling.

"I attack Will o' the Wisp with Chouxvalier, and activate my Trap, Madolche Waltz!" Moe announced. "Each time one of my Madolche monsters battles an opponent's monster, my opponent takes 300 points of damage! Chouxvalier, attack Will o' the Wisp! Noble Sugar Sword!"

The horse jumped off its cookie and charge at the ball of flames on Vector's side of the battlefield. As Chouxvalier passed, he cut the fireball in half. The halves shattered to bits as the nobleman galloped back to his cookie. At that moment, beam of orange light shot from Moe's large Trap card and struck Vector in the chest, causing him to wince as his life points dropped to 3300.

"Choco a la Mode, attack Umbral Horror Ghoul!" Moe commanded. "Dark Chocolate Waltz!"

The chocolate princess jumped off her slice of cake and twirled in the air before hitting Vector's monster in the chest with a flying kick. The demon's body shattered to bits as the princess returned to her cake. Another beam of light fired from Moe's Trap card and hit Vector in the chest again, causing his life points to fall to 3000.

"And now, Terrormisu! Destroy Umbral Horror Unform!" Moe commanded. "Sugarplum Nightmare!"

Terrormisu laughed maniacally as she fired bolts of red lightning from her scepter that vaporized Vector's last monster. Moe's Trap card fired another blast that caused Vector to fall to one knee again. His life points took another slight drop to 2700.

"Now I activate a Quick-Play Spell from my hand, Rune Rampage!" Moe announced with a mad grin. "When a Rune Mystic monster destroys a monster in battle, Rune Rampage deals damage equal to half my monster's ATK!"

"But Terrormisu is a Rune Queen monster, not a Rune Mystic monster!" Vector pointed out.

"Oh, did I forget to mention that Terrormisu is also treated as a Rune Mystic monster?" Moe asked. "Ah well. Taste the sweet sensation of pain!"

Terrormisu fired an intense blast of red lightning from her scepter at Vector, causing him to scream in pain. When the attack finally ended, Vector was on all fours as smoke rose from his body. His life points had taken a heavy drop to 1300.

"And I'm just getting warmed up." Moe told Vector. "By the way, thanks to Rune Rampage, I also get to draw another card. On my next turn, this whole room will be filled by the sweet sound of your screams. Bet you're regretting that you butted in on my time with dear Yuma now, huh?"

At that moment, Vector managed to get back to his feet. "…You know, there was a time when I would've have bothered with any of this. But for some strange reason, Yuma considers me a friend even after all the crap I've pulled. So I'm not going to let you our your boss, Mitaka get to him!"

"Suit yourself." Moe shrugged. "I'll end my turn here. Go ahead and make your next move, because it'll be your last."

"You're right about that, but that's because I'm going to end this duel right here!" Vector declared as he drew his next card. The card he pulled from the deck glowed briefly with a crimson light. "I activate Rank-Up-Magic The Seventh One! I take Number 104: Masquerade from my Extra Deck and use him to build the overlay network and Xyz Summon Number C104: Umbral Horror Masquerade!"

Another galaxy-like vortex appeared on the field, and rising out of the middle of it was a ball of light-purple light that gained a gigantic pair of blood-red bat-like wings. In moments the object transformed into a humanoid figure clothed in a red coat with a high black collar. On his back, the fabric of the coat formed a pair of large red wings. The figure had a white and purple mask-like head in the form of a demon with yellow horns. Glowing across his forehead in purple was the number 104. In both his hands, Masquerade held a long black narrow staff with a red ornament at the top. Sitting on the ground next to the demon magician was a red crystal with gold plates covering it.

"Because I've summoned Umbral Horror Masqurade, I can destroy an opponent's Spell or Trap card!" Vector announced. "And the card I choose is Madolche Waltz!"

The demon magician fired a bolt of red lightning from the top of his staff. The blast hit Moe's large Trap card and caused is to shatter to bits.

"And now I activate the second effect of Umbral Horror Wraith from the Graveyard!" Vector announced. "By banishing him from the Graveyard, I can make it possible for an Umbral Horror Xyz Monster to attack twice this turn!"

At that moment a slithering black shadow appeared on the ground of the battlefield and went under Masquerade. The demon magician then began to glow with a feint purple aura.

"Masquerade, attack Madolche Chouxvalier!" Vector commanded. "Nightmare Illusion!"

The shadow beneath Masquerade suddenly rose up and turned into a pitch-black clone of the demon magician. The copy fired bolts of black lightning from his staff at the desert warrior, causing him and his horse to shatter to bits. Moe's life points took a drop to 2700.

"Madolche monsters are shuffled into the deck when they're destroyed." Moe announced. "And since a Madolche monster was just sent back to my deck, I activate Choco a la Mode's effect and detach an overlay unit to summon a Madolche monster from my deck!"

"I don't think so! I activate the Trap, Umbral Horror Grudge!" Vector announced. "By banishing every Umbral Horror monster in my Graveyard, this card negates your monster's effect and destroys her! And for each Umbral Horror monster I've banished, all your other monsters lose 600 ATK!"

Just as one of the balls of pink light orbiting Choco a la Mode entered her crown, several black shadows came up from the ground and wrapped themselves around the desert princess. Choco a la Mode let out a blood-curdling scream as the shadows pulled her under. Once the princess was no more, the shadows rose up and swirled around Terrormisu. After a moment the shadows vanished and the evil desert queen had a look of absolute terror on her face.

"And now, Umbral Horror Masquerade!" Vector called. "Attack Terrormisu and end this!"

"You fool! At this moment I activate Terrormisu's effect to negate your attack and send your monster back where he came from!" Moe announced.

"Afraid not, because I activate Masquerade's other effect!" Vector announced. "When a monster activates its effect, I can detach an overlay unit to negate that monster's and make you discard a random card from your hand to cut your life points in half!"

Just as another one of the fireballs orbiting Terrormisu entered her crown, the red crystal on the ground shattered and Masquerade fired bolts of red lightning from his staff. Both Moe and Terrormisu were hit, and Moe's life points took a heavy drop to 1350. Masquerade fired another blast that struck Terrormisu in the chest. The wicked desert queen was destroyed in a massive explosion that knocked Moe to the ground. When the smoke cleared, Moe's life points had dropped to zero and the Rune Mysitc symbol had vanished from her forehead.

With the duel finally over, Masquerade disappeared and the inside of the factory went back to normal. Vector let out a heavy sigh and sat down on the ground, looking up at the skylight above.

"I sure hope Yuma appreciates all this when this whole thing is over." Vector remarked. "Assuming of course Kotori can come through."

* * *

Samantha paced around her hideout in a huff in front of the floating crystal orb she used to keep an eye on things. She looked at it again and saw an exhausted Vector still sitting on the ground in victory. With a look of disgust, Samantha waved her arm and caused the orb to vanish. It was all she could do to keep herself from throwing something at it.

"Dammit!" Samantha cursed. "I didn't think things would get this far. At least I've got time on my side though. Still, I can't afford to take any more chances at this point. One way or another, birdie-girl must die."

* * *

**Author's Note:** Sorry for the slight delay with this chapter. I had to mow the lawn yesterday, one of my least favorite household chores. Anyway, we're inching ever closer to the climax of this story, though the final duel is still a ways off. Stay tuned.

In the meantime, please review and let me know what you think.


	15. The Final Night

**Author's Note:** It seems I may have exaggerated a bit when I said we were approaching the climax of this story. That climax is just around the corner, but there's still a good chunk of this story to go.

**Disclaimer:** I do not own Yu-Gi-Oh! ZEXAL.

* * *

Chapter 15: The Final Night

The sun at almost completely set on Heartland, bringing an end to another day. The final night before the last day to save Yuma from a cruel fate had come. After their little encounter with Samantha, Kotori and Kaito immediately headed to Heartland Tower. Once there, they met up with Droite, Vector and Alit. As soon as everyone had gathered in the lab, they all caught each other up on what had happened with Mr. Gizmo, Moe and Samantha.

"Okay. Well the good news seems to be that Mitaka is out of followers." Kaito told the others. "Assuming of course that Moe Chiba was the last girl working for her."

"You're all welcome, by the way." Vector cut in.

"The bad news though is that we're about out of time." Kaito continued. "According to Mitaka, unless something is done, Yuma will be dead by tomorrow afternoon."

"So in other words, we can't waste any more time." Alit observed.

At that, Kaito nodded and reached into his pocket. The item he pulled out was a small transparent geometric item with a blue sphere inside it. Kaito handed the object to Kotori.

"What is this?" Kotori asked.

"A sphere field cube I just finished working on." The photon duelist answered. "It's based on the Barian Sphere Cubes the Barian Emperors used, only it uses the power of Astral World."

"You want Kotori to duel Mitaka inside that thing?" Vector asked.

"The cube wasn't created for use in a duel." Kaito answered. "I was made to provide a space for Yuma and Kotori to be alone."

At this, Kotori's face turned a bit red. "You mean I'm supposed to get Yuma into this sphere field so we can…?"

"Exactly." Kaito confirmed before Kotori finished. "That field might be the only place where Mitaka or the other Death Queens can't get to you. They're Barians, which means theoretically they shouldn't be able to enter the field. Plus since Yuma seems to be technically of Astral World, the field might have a healing effect on him."

"But… aren't sphere fields transparent?" Kotori asked, her face turning redder. "I mean everyone could see Yuma's duel with Tron, not mention his duels with Mizael, Alit and Gilag."

"Don't worry. I've got that covered." Kaito assured her. "I've added a light barrier to the field to make it impossible for anyone to see inside it. No offense, but I certainly don't want to see whatever you and Yuma end up doing inside that thing."

"Neither do I." Droite agreed.

"Affirmative." Orbital 7 responded.

"Same here." Alit replied.

"You're preaching to the choir." Vector spoke.

"The light barrier should also theoretically provide an extra layer of protection against Mitaka." Kaito continued. "Bottom line, this sphere should be able to protect you and Yuma for at least several minutes."

"Oh, okay." Kotori replied. "…Um, is this sphere field also soundproof?"

This time it was Kaito's face that turned red. "Oh… uh, I'm not sure actually. To be honest I didn't take that pert into account. Though the light barrier I added should be able to block sound, theoretically at least."

"I'm sure it'll be fine." Droite told Kotori as she placed a hand on her shoulder. "For right now, you should go home and get some rest. Tomorrow's the weekend, so we'll spread out and find Yuma."

"Yeah, okay." Kotori replied as she pocketed the sphere cube. "I'll see you guys tomorrow then, I guess."

With that, Kotori left the lab to head for home. Alit and Vector left soon after while Orbital 7 went to go take care of something.

"I sure hope Kotori will be up to what she has to do tomorrow." Kaito spoke.

"Well I'm sure she has the worst kind of performance anxiety imaginable." Droite assumed. "But she'll be able to go through with it. After all, she's doing it to save Yuma's life."

* * *

The last rays of the sun had only just departed as Anna headed towards Yuma's house. When she got to the door, she immediately rang the bell. The person who answered was a young woman with long red hair tied in a ponytail. Anna quickly deduced that the young woman was most likely Yuma's older sister, Akari, who he had mentioned during one of their dates.

"Can I help you?" Akari asked.

"I'm here to see Yuma. Is he in?" Anna asked.

"Sure, though he says he's not feeling all that great tonight." Akari replied as she stepped aside to allow Anna to come in. "He must've caught some kind of bug going around or something."

"I hope he's okay." Anna responded.

"Hey Yuma! One of your friends is here to see you!" Akari called up.

As Akari left the room, Yuma headed down the stairs looking like he had just woken up from a long nap. He became wide-awake though as soon as he saw Anna waiting at the bottom of the stairs.

"Hey Anna." Yuma greeted as he came down. "What brings you here?"

"Can't a girl just stop by and surprise her boyfriend?" Anna asked.

"Uh… yeah, about that." Yuma began as he looked away and rubbed the back of his head. "Anna, I think you and I need to have a talk."

"A talk?" Anna repeated as she suddenly got a bad feeling. "About what?"

"Well, you see… I do like you Anna." Yuma began. "You're fun to be around and all, but… I just don't like you in that way."

"You're… you're breaking up with me?" Anna realized.

"Yeah… I guess I am." Yuma confirmed. "Sorry 'bout this."

"It's because of her, isn't it?" Anna yelled. "That green-haired tramp, Kotori!"

"Uh, well…" Yuma began.

Before Yuma could finish, Anna punched him in the eye with enough force to knock him onto his butt. The furious redhead then turned on her heel and stormed out, slamming the door behind her. As Yuma sat up, Akari ran back into the room.

"What the hell's going on?" Akari asked.

"I just dumped my girlfriend." Yuma answered.

"You were dating that girl?" Akari asked with a raised eyebrow.

"For the last couple days, but it was nothing serious." Yuma replied. "She has kind of a temper."

"Oh. You're probably better off then." Akari told him.

"There's… actually someone else I'm interested in anyway." Yuma admitted. "This other girl at my school named Kotori. I don't really know her all that well, but I kinda got this crush on her."

"Huh… weird." Akari responded.

"What?" Yuma asked.

"Nothing. It just sticks in my mind that you knew some girl named Kotori when you were real little." Akari recalled. "Then again, maybe I'm just imagining things."

"Well, whatever." Yuma replied as he stood back up. "I'm going back to my room."

"You feeling any better?" Akari asked.

"A little." Yuma answered as he headed up the stairs. "I'm sure I'll be a hundred percent in the morning."

"Okay. Well let me know if you need anything." Akari told him.

"Roger." Yuma responded. And with that, he continued up the stairs.

* * *

Samantha wandered aimlessly through the streets of Heartland trying to figure out her next course of action. It seemed like she would have to get rid of Kotori herself, but there was also the problem of Kaito and the others. Samantha was fresh out of coven members, and though she and her followers had seduced and brainwashed a good number of male duelists during her time in the city, none of them were likely to be a match against duelists at the level of Kaito and the others. At the most, those duelists could probably only serve as cannon fodder. It seemed to Samantha like she was fresh out of options.

As Samantha walked, she accidentally bumped into the back of a man in a black leather jacket. The man turned around and Samantha let out a small gasp when she saw his face. He had tan skin and reddish-brown hair with a large patch of yellow on the front. Beneath one of his eyes was a long vertical scar. Samantha didn't know how it was possible, but the young man looked like someone from her past life, someone who was very significant.

"A-Adam?" Samantha spoke. "Is that really you?"

"Sorry, but I think you've got me mixed up with someone else." The young man replied. "The name's Thomas. Thomas Arclight."

"Oh… yeah, sorry. I don't know what I was thinking." Samantha replied. Suddenly she recalled something about the name the young man had told her. "Wait. Aren't you that duelist known as IV?"

"I've kind of stopped calling myself that, but yeah." Thomas confirmed. "You a fan?"

A small smile formed on Samantha's face as a new idea popped into her head. It seemed that the solution to all her problems had just presented itself to her.

"Why yes I am." Samantha lied. "You're probably one of the best duelists I've ever seen."

"Thanks." Thomas replied.

"So do you live around here in the city?" Samantha asked.

"Yeah. I was actually just heading for my apartment." Thomas revealed. "This might sound kinda weird, but would you like to come with me?"

The redhead's small smile turned into a large grin. Everything was going exactly the way she wanted it to.

"I'd be delighted!" Samantha told Thomas as she took hold of his arm.

In a few minutes, Samantha and Thomas arrived at the rather classy apartment building where Thomas lived. Thomas' apartment was on the top floor and had a large deck that gave a breath-taking view of the city. Samantha made herself at home on the couch while Thomas went into the kitchen to get her something to drink. The whole time, the redhead couldn't stop thinking about how much Thomas looked like that young man from her past. It was brining back some very unpleasant memories for her, and if it were up to her she'd have nothing more to do with Thomas. But the fact was she needed Thomas as a pawn to get rid of Kotori.

"Here you go." Thomas spoke as he returned and handed Samantha a glass before sitting on the couch next to her. "So you called me by another name before. If you don't mind me asking, who was this Adam?"

"Well…" Samantha rather hesitantly began, "I guess you could say he's my ex-boyfriend. He and I ended up being very close. I was sure I was even going to marry him one day. But in the end he betrayed me and wound up with the bitch who called herself my best friend."

"Sorry to hear about that." Thomas told her.

"It was a long time ago." Samantha bitterly replied. "I was young and foolish back then. Just a small-town girl who had no clue about how this world really works."

"If it helps, I've recently had my heart crushed too." Thomas revealed.

"Oh?" a very interested Samantha asked. "What happened?"

"This girl I was interested in for the past couple of years ended up with someone else." Thomas answered. "I didn't even get the chance to tell her how I really felt about her."

"So some guy swept her out from under you, huh?" Samantha assumed.

"Actually it was another girl." Thomas revealed. "Guess this means I never had a chance with her to begin with."

Inside Samantha was doing a little victory dance. She knew that the girl Thomas was probably talking about was Rio Kamishiro, who had recently become romantically involved with Cleo Atlas, one of the Signers. This meant that Thomas didn't just have a broken heart; he was probably emasculated as well. Bending him to her will was going to be like taking candy from a baby. The fact that Thomas looked like Adam was throwing the redhead off her game a little bit, but she was still in total control.

"You poor guy." Samantha spoke as she put her hand on Thomas' leg. "You must be going through a rough time right now, huh?"

"I thought the tournament I've just come back from would've taken my mind of things. But it didn't." Thomas replied.

Samantha took hold of Thomas' chin and gently turned his head to stare into his eyes. Thomas felt himself becoming lost in the redhead's gaze. Samantha moved in and kissed the puppet duelist hard on the lips. Their mouths opened and soon their tongues began to grind against one another. When they finally broke for air, Samantha got up from the couch and began to head for Thomas' bedroom. She paused, looked back at him and removed her shirt, carelessly tossing it away onto the floor. Thomas blushed upon seeing that the redhead wasn't wearing a bra.

In moments Samantha was in Thomas' room and had stripped down completely before waiting on his bed. Samantha found that she was feeling a sort of excitement, though she didn't know why. This seduction was no different than any other she had done. At last Thomas walked into the room wearing only his grey jeans. Samantha found her breath taken away by the sight of Thomas' bare well-muscled chest. Her heart started to beat faster as the excitement she was feeling grew.

Thomas undid his belt and pulled down his pants and boxers in one move, freeing his hardened erection. Samantha found herself blushing at the size of it, but she was at a loss as to why. Some of the other young men she had conquered in the past were just as well endowed as Thomas was, so there was no reason for her to be getting so excited. Thomas walked over to the bed and gave Samantha another passionate kiss on the lips. The redhead let out a deep moan as Thomas slipped his tongue into her mouth.

They rolled on the bed until Samantha was on top. The redhead sat up and moaned softly as she slid Thomas' rock-hard manhood into her. She began to rock her hips at a very gentle pace. Samantha tried transforming to her true form to begin bending Thomas to her will, but there was something holding her back. Suddenly Thomas flipped Samantha onto her back and pushed himself up with his arms. He began plowing into Samantha hard, and the redhead found herself feeling a kind of pleasure she had not experienced before.

Samantha wrapped her legs around Thomas' waist and reached under his arms to hold onto his shoulders. Thomas took this action as a signal to plunge into Samantha harder and deeper, causing her to moan and throw her head back. Samantha felt almost as though her body was on fire, it was a good kind of fire. The heat she felt was nothing like the pain of being burned alive, the pain she felt at the end of her past life. An eternity seemed to go by before the two of them finally climaxed at the same moment. Thomas withdrew himself and rolled back onto the bed. The two of them looked up at the ceiling as they caught their breath.

"That… that was unlike anything I've ever felt before." Samantha breathlessly spoke.

After a few moments, a cocky smirk appeared on Thomas' face and he pulled Samantha in for another deep kiss. The kiss did not last long though and Thomas began to suck on the redhead's neck, digging his teeth into her skin. Samantha let out another moan and dug her nails into Thomas' back. After a few more moments of this, Thomas got onto his knees and pulled Samantha to her knees as well. With Samantha facing away from him, he pushed her forward so she was using her arms to support herself with the headboard.

Thomas shoved his re-hardened manhood into Samantha's rear end, causing her eyes to shoot wide open. Samantha felt almost as if she was paralyzed as Thomas plowed into her, but it wasn't simply a paralysis due to pleasure. She was at the mercy of some other feeling that was familiar to her but couldn't name. For the first time she could remember, Samantha was not the one in control, and a part of her liked it very much. After a while Thomas pushed into her harder and reach under to push two fingers into Samantha's moist womanhood. Samantha felt almost as though she would lose her mind if she didn't climax soon.

At long last though, the two of them reached their peak at the same moment. Thomas withdrew himself and collapsed onto the bed, seeming to doze off in an instant. Samantha remained where she was for a moment and looked down at him. She was taken completely away by how much Thomas looked like Adam, the young man who had stolen her heart in her past life. Samantha reached down to stroke Thomas's cheek but stopped half way. In that instant she suddenly realized what the other feeling that had overtaken her before was and became disgusted. It was the feeling that humans called love.

Regaining her sanity, Samantha quietly and quickly gathered her clothes and left the apartment. A few short minutes later she was back outside the apartment building. The cool breeze felt good against her still burning-hot skin. Samantha walked away from the apartment building as quickly as she could. She was appalled that she had let herself be swayed by memories from her past life. All her encounter had done was stir up old feelings that she thought were long dead.

"And here I thought I'd completely gotten rid of that stupid little village girl." Samantha spoke. "How pathetic."

Samantha kept on walking for several more minutes, not paying any attention to where she was going. The redhead ended up bumping up against Anna, who at that moment was heading in the opposite direction.

"Hey! Watch it!" Anna told her, almost shouting.

"Sorry." Samantha told her. "I didn't see you there."

"You've got eyes, don't you?" Anna shouted. "Why don't you use them, you dumb bitch?"

"Hey! Lay off!" Samantha shot back. "I'm not in a good mood right now."

"Yeah? Well neither am I!" Anna told her. "My boyfriend, Yuma just dumped me!"

Samantha let out a startled gasp. "Did… did you say Yuma? As in Yuma Tsukumo?"

"Yeah? That's him." Anna admitted. "Hey! What business is it of yours?"

All the color completely drained from Samantha's face. With all that had been going on, she had been completely oblivious to Yuma going out with Anna. This sort of development had never occurred to Samantha during her plans. While Yuma was at least moderately attractive, it never occurred to Samantha that anyone besides Kotori or the somewhat desperate and damaged girls she had recruited into her coven would even bother with Yuma in that way.

"So… you and Yuma were really going out." Samantha spoke.

"We were, but he just dumped me!" Anna loudly repeated. "He left me for that little tramp, Kotori!"

A sinister grin quickly formed on Samantha's face upon hearing this. What could've been a very costly oversight on her part had just turned into the very solution she had been looking for.

"I think you and I got off on the wrong foot." Samantha told her. "I'm Samantha, but you can call me Sammy. And you are?"

"…Anna." The furious redhead answered after a moment.

"Anna, you and I have a lot to talk about." Samantha told her as she put her hand on her shoulder. "Particularly about a certain birdie-girl we both want dead."

* * *

**Author's Note:** This chapter ended up serving three purposes. The first was to show the breakup between Yuma and Anna. The second was to drop a few hints about Mitaka's past life. The third and most important purpose though was to try and fill the little plot hole about why Mitaka hadn't done anything about stopping Anna from getting her hooks into Yuma (or trying to). Anyway, the action is just going to heat up from here.

Please review and let me know what you think.


	16. Kotori's Rival

**Disclaimer:** I do not own Yu-Gi-Oh! ZEXAL.

* * *

Chapter 16: Kotori's Rival

It was fairly early in the morning as Yuma sat up in his hammock. Besides a dull pain in his chest caused by the mark that had been afflicting him for the past few days, Yuma found that he felt pretty good. The young duelist glanced out his window and saw that the sky was thick with dark clouds. It seemed like it might start storming at any moment. Turning away from the window, Yuma hopped out of his hammock and went to go get dressed for the day.

"Hey Yuma! Could you come down here for a minute?" Akari called from downstairs.

Yuma promptly left his room and in moments met Akari at the bottom of the stairs. "What's up?"

"A friend of yours dropped by to give you this note." Akari answered as she handed Yuma a slip of paper. "You seem to be popular with the girls all of a sudden."

Yuma ignored the remark and began reading the note. The note was from Kotori asking him to meet up with her at a certain park at 11:00. Not wanting to waste any time, Yuma immediately headed back up the stairs to his room to get dressed. Though he had plenty of time before he was supposed to meet with Kotori, he needed to figure out what he was going to wear. Yuma wanted to look perfect for the next time he saw her.

* * *

Kotori was waiting in the town square to meet up with Kaito and the others. The plan was for them to get together before setting out to find Yuma. It was very likely that Mitaka was going to put some sort of defense to keep Kotori from Yuma, which means she would most likely need backup. What bothered Kotori the most was how empty the city seemed to be, almost as though it was deserted. At long last, Kotori saw Vector and Alit approaching.

"Where are Kaito and Droite?" Kotori asked them.

"They decided to try and confront Mitaka themselves while you take care of Yuma." Alit explained. "So just Vector and I are your bodyguards for the day."

"Then we better go find Yuma." Kotori told them.

"The best place to start would probably be his house." Vector suggested. "The barrier Mitaka said she put up should probably be gone by now."

At that moment, the gemstone embedded in the Emperor's Key gave a small flash. In her mind, Kotori suddenly saw the image of a very familiar park.

"I think I know where Yuma is!" Kotori told them. "He's at the park where this whole thing started in the first place."

"How do you know that?" Alit asked.

"I think Astral told me." Kotori answered.

"Then we better get moving." Alit decided.

"You're not going anywhere." A voice interrupted.

Kotori and the others looked and saw a young man with pale green hair walking towards them. Kotori recognized the young man as the one Alice was with right before her duel with Kaito. The young man was not alone though. Several more young men all armed with duel disks approached and quickly surrounded the trio.

"Where'd these guys come from?" Alit asked.

"I think they're all guys Mitaka and her helpers brainwashed." Kotori answered.

"Seems those ladies really got around." Vector observed.

"By order of Mistress Sammy, we've come to take you out!" the green-haired young man declared.

"Kotori! Vector and I will handle these guys!" Alit told her. "You just focus on getting to Yuma!"

"Are you sure?" Kotori asked.

"Trust me. These guys are no problem." Alit smirked.

"Besides, Yuma's running out of time." Vector pointed out. "That means you don't have time to waste with these guys."

Kotori nodded and ran off, managing to get past the mod that had surrounded them. Meanwhile, Vector and Alit readied their duel disks for battle.

"I think this is gonna be fun." Alit remarked to Vector.

"Just try not to get in my way." Vector replied with a sinister grin. "This is my chance to really cut loose."

With that, everyone in the square activated their D-Gazers and duel disks. In moments the massive battle royal was joined.

* * *

Yuma arrived at the park and began to look for Kotori. He was so nervous about meeting with her that he jumped when he heard the sound of thunder in the distance. Yuma hoped that Kotori would arrive soon, as the waiting was killing him.

"Hello Yuma." A voice spoke from behind. Yuma turned around to see that it was Samantha. "Know who I am?"

"You're that one girl from my school, Samantha." Yuma answered. "Um, I hate to be rude, I'm kinda waiting for someone right now, so…"

"You're waiting for Kotori, right?" Samantha asked as she began to walk towards him. "I'm afraid she won't be coming. You see I was the one who delivered that little note to your sister."

"You? But why?" Yuma asked as he backed away.

"Oh don't worry yourself with little questions like that." Samantha told him. "What matters is I know what you want, and I can give it to you just as easily as Kotori can."

"I don't know what you're talking about!" Yuma told her as he backed into a tree.

"Of course you do." Samantha replied as she cornered him. "So just relax and let me take care of you."

Yuma felt as if he had become trapped in the nightmares he had been having for the past few nights. Just as Samantha moved in to kiss him, Yuma gathered his will and managed to push her away. As Yuma ran off into the park, Samantha looked at him with an irritated expression. The redhead took a deep breath and calmed down.

"Okay, this is turning out to be just a little harder than I thought it'd be." Samantha spoke. "But it doesn't matter. Sooner or later he'll give in."

* * *

Kotori ran for the park as fast as her legs could carry her. As she ran, she couldn't help but notice how deserted the city seemed to be. It seemed that Mitaka had done something to keep other people from coming out into the streets. At long last Kotori could see the entrance to the park in the distance. Kotori continued on when an explosion suddenly went off right next to her and knocked her to the ground.

As Kotori managed to get up, she looked around and saw Anna standing at the top of some steps to her left. The redhead had on a vest made from a jean jacket with the sleeves torn off over a black tank top that showed off her midriff and cleavage, along with a pair of incredibly short torn jean shorts. At that moment though, Kotori was more focused on the fact that Anna had the large pink cannon she usually carried outside of school aimed right at her.

"Get up, bitch!" Anna ordered. "I've got a bone to pick with you!"

"I don't know what your problem is Anna, but I don't have time for this right now!" Kotori told her.

With that, Kotori tried to head for the park again, but Anna fired another round from her cannon. The blast hit the ground only inches from where Kotori was standing and nearly knocked her down a second time.

"You're not going anywhere until we settle this!" Anna told her.

"Is this about Yuma?" Kotori asked. "Look Anna, I'm sorry about everything that's happened! But right now Yuma's in a lot of trouble!"

"You're the only one who's in trouble right now!" Anna declared. "Now until you duel me, I'm not letting you leave!"

At this, Kotori scowled and reluctantly put on her D-Gazer. "Fine! But let's make this quick!"

After slinging her cannon back over her back, Anna put her on her own D-Gazer. Kotori and Anna activated their duel disks and in an instant the color of the surrounding area changed.

"I'm going first!" Kotori declared as she drew her first card.

Kotori looked carefully at her hand to try and figure out what her first move should be. She had seen Anna duel more than once in the past and new what she was capable of. Whatever Anna's first move was going to be, Kotori knew she was going to hit fast and hard.

"Okay. I summon Gagaga Magician in Attack Mode!" Kotori announced. The silver-haired magician appeared on the battlefield. "Next I special summon Gagaga Child!"

Appearing on the field next to Gagaga Magician was a boy with red hair holding a blue Popsicle. He had on a pink shirt with a red tie along with black shorts and red sneakers. On his back was a dark-blue cape with orange trim, and atop his head the boy wore a blue and orange conical hat that curved forward.

"I use Gagaga Child's effect to match his level to Gagaga Magician's!" Kotori announced. The redheaded boy quickly at his Popsicle and pulled the stick out to reveal four level stars on it. "I use the level four Gagaga Magician and Gagaga Child to build the overlay network and Xyz Summon Number 39: Utopia!"

A vortex in the form of a galaxy appeared on the battlefield and pulled in Kotori's monsters as balls of golden energy. A giant white sword with two balls of gold light orbiting it rose out of the vortex and transformed into Utopia.

"I set one card on the field and end my turn!" Kotori announced.

"Running scared already, huh?" Anna remarked as she drew her first card. "Well there's no running from me! I summon Night Express Knight in Attack Mode!"

Kotori could suddenly hear the sound of a train whistle in the in the distance. In moments a large silver train pulled up right behind Anna. On the top of the front car of the train was the upper body of a mechanical knight wielding a lance.

"Since I just summoned a level ten monster, I can also summon Heavy Freight Train Derricrane!" Anna announced.

Another train whistle sounded and Kotori saw another train speed up behind Anna. This train looked to be an ordinary grey and yellow freight train. Built onto the train's rear car was a kind of construction crane.

"Derricrane's ATK is cut in half when summoned by this effect." Anna continued. "But that doesn't matter, since I now use Derricrane and Night Express Knight to Xyz Summon Superdreadnought Rail Cannon Gustav Max!"

A massive vortex appeared on the ground behind Anna and pulled in the two trains as balls of red energy. Rising out of the vortex was a large train car that looked like a green cube on wheels. Though Kotori knew how dangerous that cube really was. Orbiting around the cube were two balls of orange light.

_'I knew that Anna would summon Gustav Max as soon as she could.'_ Kotori thought. _'Next she'll use its effect to cut my life points in half and attack me. But I'm ready for her. As soon as she attacks, I can use the Mirror Force card I set before to take her monster out. And even if that doesn't work, I can use Utopia's effect to block her attack.'_

"I activate the Spell, Rank-Up-Magic Rune Force!" Anna announced.

"What!" a stunned Kotori exclaimed.

"With this card, I use Gustav Max to rebuild the overlay network and Xyz Summon Rune Mystic Death Rail Cannon Gustav Omega!" Anna announced.

A pillar of orange light shot up into the sky around Gustav Max. Suddenly a large silver cannon barrel burst out of the pillar of energy. The muzzle of the cannon was shaped like a horned animal skull with the Rune Mystic symbol glowing on the forehead. The pillar of light faded to reveal that the rest of the vehicle had changed into a red train car that almost resembled a tank. On the top of the tank car on each side of the turret were four short white spikes. Orbiting around the cannon were three red fireballs.

"Anna, are you working for Mitaka?" Kotori asked.

"What the hell does it look like?" Anna responded. "She told me that if I got rid of you, I could have Yuma all to myself. So I'm going to do what I should've done long ago and blow you to bits!"

"Look Anna, I'm sorry about what's happened between you and Yuma." Kotori told her. "But the fact is Yuma and I have actually been seeing each other for a long time. Neither of you remembered that because of this spell Mitaka cast over the whole city."

"I know all that!" Anna revealed. "I got my real memories back the moment Mitaka gave me this power!"

"What? But then… are you saying you still have feelings for Yuma?" a surprised Kotori asked.

"Oh please! You think I went after Yuma just because of some dumb spell?" Anna asked. "The fact is I've had a thing for Yuma for a long time. Until now I've just been waiting around hoping he'd dump you so I could move in. But this works out just as well!"

"Anna…" Kotori spoke.

"Quiet! I activate Gustav Omega's effect!" Anna announced. "By detaching an overlay unit, I can destroy one monster my opponent controls! And since Gustav Omega has Gustav Max as an overlay unit, you'll take damage equal to that monster's original ATK! So I detach Derricrane and destroy Utopia!"

One of the fireballs orbiting Gustav Omega went into the hatch on top of the wicked train car. The cannon fired a glowing red shell that hit Utopia in the chest and caused a massive explosion that knocked Kotori back three feet. Kotori hit the ground hard with her back and her life points dropped to 1500.

"That's not all!" Anna continued. "Since I detached Derricrane to activate Gustav Omega's effect, Derricrane lets me destroy a card on my opponent's field! Say goodbye to your face-down card!"

As soon as Kotori got back to her feet, her large Trap card exploded and knocked her back down. It took Kotori another moment to get back up.

"Gustav Omega's 3500 ATK is more than enough to finish you off!" Anna declared. "Gustav Omega, attack her directly! Carnage Mortar!"

"I summon Gagaga Guardna to the field in Defense Mode!" Kotori quickly announced. The shield-baring warrior appeared in front of her.

At this, Anna scowled. "Fine! Guess I'll set one card on the field and end my turn."

Kotori drew her next card. "First I activate Dian Keto the Cure Master and get back 1000 life points!" Sparkling lights rained down on Kotori and brought her life points up to 2500. "Next I play the Spell card, Swords of Revealing Light!"

Suddenly several swords made of white light rained down upon the field, piercing holes through the dark clouds above. The massive swords floated between Kotori and Anna to create a wall.

"That's all you've got?" Anna asked. "Those swords of yours may keep me from attacking you for a few turns, but they can't stop Gustav Omega's effect. At most you've only bought yourself one more turn."

_'She's right.'_ Kotori thought. _'On the next turn she'll blow away Gagaga Guardna and take out another chunk of my life points. Unless I can do something soon, I'm as good as dead.'_

* * *

**Author's Note:** The outline for the duel between Anna and Kotori ended up coming together pretty quickly. All I'll say on it is that the ending to it will probably be surprising.

Please review and let me know what you think.


	17. Superior Dora

**Disclaimer:** I do not own Yu-Gi-Oh! ZEXAL.

* * *

Chapter 17: Superior Dora

"I end my turn." Kotori announced.

Anna drew her next card. "I activate Gustav Omega's effect and detach Night Express Knight to destroy Gagaga Guardna!"

One of the fireballs orbiting the wicked rail cannon entered the hatch on the top. Gustav Omega fired another round that passes through the barrier created by the swords of light and obliterated Kotori's monster. The resulting explosion knocked Kotori back down and reduced her life points to 1000.

"I now activate the Spell card, Rune Soul Charge!" Anna announced. "Since I have a Rune Mystic monster on the field, Soul Charge lets me attach two monsters in my hand to it as overlay units." With that, two more fireballs appeared and were pulled into Gustav Omega's orbit. "That ends my turn."

"Anna, it doesn't have to be this way between us!" Kotori told her.

"Like hell it doesn't!" Anna shot back. "You're the one thing that's standing between me and Yuma, which means you have to die!"

"Getting rid of me won't change how Yuma feels about you!" Kotori argued.

"What, so you're saying I should just give up?" Anna asked. "You're saying I should just stop fighting for the guy I'm in to just because he's seeing someone else?"

"Anna, you can't make Yuma love you!" Kotori told her. "I know this must be hard for you, but you have to let Yuma go! If it helps… I know Yuma still probably thinks of you as a friend. And even with everything that's happening, so do I."

"A friend? Don't give me that crap!" Anna told her "If you expect me to settle for just being a friend, then you can go to hell! Now make your move!"

Kotori sighed and drew her next card. "I activate the Spell card, Gagagadraw! By banishing the three Gagaga monsters that are in my Graveyard, I can draw two more cards!"

Kotori looked at the two new cards she had just pulled from the deck. One of them was Card of Sanctity, which she knew could help boost her hand further. But even if she did draw more cards it wouldn't help. She didn't have a card left in her deck that could affectively combat Gustav Omega. Suddenly the Emperor's Key flashed and Kotori felt herself being pulled to another place.

* * *

_Kotori found that she was in a very familiar expanse of darkness that seemed to go on into infinity. Astral was hovering a few feet in front of her, providing the only source of light there was. Astral's body was still crackling with black electricity and flashing from blue to red just like the last time Kotori had seen him._

_"Kotori… we do not have much time left." Astral spoke in the weakest voice Kotori had ever heard him use._

_"I know that." Kotori replied. "But I don't know what to do. I don't think there's any way I can beat Anna."_

_"There is… one way." Astral told her. "It lies with… one of the Numbers."_

_"You're going to give me another Number?" Kotori asked._

_Astral nodded and held up his hand, causing a single glowing card to appear right above it. "At the end of the war… a very few of the Numbers were still blank when I finally received them. Those blank Numbers ended up taking forms that reflected the bonds Yuma and I had formed with some of our friends. This Number represents the bond Yuma formed with Anna. It may be the key to defeating her."_

_The card floated from Astral's hand over to Kotori. Kotori took hold of the card, and the moment she did it stopped glowing, allowing her to take a good look at what the card was._

_"How am I supposed to summon this?" Kotori asked._

_"I… will help you." Astral told her. "All you have to do… is believe."_

_"Okay." Kotori replied with a nod. "I trust you."_

_Astral gave a weak smile and nodded. Soon after the darkness was enveloped by another flash of light._

* * *

The light cleared and Kotori found herself back in the duel. Anna was looking at her with crossed arms as she impatiently tapped her foot.

"Will you quite spacing out and make your move already?" Anna demanded.

"I activate the Spell, Card of Sanctity!" Kotori announced. "Now both of us get to draw until we have six cards in our hand!"

Kotori took a deep breath and touched the top of her deck. As she pulled her new cards, they glowed with a golden light.

"I summon Gagaga Sister in Attack Mode!" Kotori announced.

Appearing on the battlefield was a little girl with short blonde hair and green eyes. She had on a white and black dress with a short cape attached to the back. On the sides of the dress's black midsection were two large pink bows. The little girl also wore a pair of black knee-high boots decorated with little white skulls at the top and pink sashes around the ankles. On her head was a white conical hat with pink trim that curved back, and in her hand was a large ornate golden key that acted as a magic wand.

"When I've normal summoned Gagaga Sister, I can add a Gagaga Spell or Trap card to my hand!" Kotori announced. "Now I activate the Spell card I just added to my hand, Gagagawind! With this card I summon Gagaga Girl from my hand as a level four monster!" The blonde Spellcaster appeared on the field next to Gagaga Sister.

"And what do you expect to do with those two monsters?" Anna asked. "Neither of them has the same level. And you can't use Gagaga Girl with Gagaga Magician since you just banished him a minute ago."

"I activate Gagaga Sister's other effect!" Kotori announced. "Gagaga Sister lets me combine level with the level of another Gagaga monster I have on the field! That means both Gagaga Sister and Gagaga Girl become two level six monsters!"

Gagaga Sister happily waved her golden key through the air, causing pink sparking lights to rain down on her and Gagaga Girl. Both monsters then began to glow with a pink aura.

"I use Gagaga Sister and Gagaga Girl to Xyz Summon my ace card!" Kotori announced. "Help me out, Magi Magi Magician Gal!"

A vortex appeared in the middle of the battlefield and pulled in the two Gagaga monsters as balls of purple energy. Moments later, Kotori's blonde magical girl emerged from the vortex orbited by two balls of purple light.

"I now activate Gagaga Girl's effect!" Kotori announced. "Since she was used for an Xyz Summon, I can drop the ATK of Gustav Omega to zero!"

The ghostly image of Gagaga Girl appeared around one of the balls of light orbiting Magician Gal and fired a beam of light from the screen of her smart phone. The beam struck Gustav Omega and reduced its ATK to zero.

"I activate the Continuous Trap, Law of the Rune!" Anna announced. "As long as this card is on the field, only Number monsters are allowed to attack Rune Mystic monsters like Gustav Omega!"

"So in other words I can't attack using Magician Gal." Kotori observed.

"I saw that little move coming, you know." Anna told her. "Sammy told me all about how you like to use Gagaga Girl and Magi Magi Magician Gal together. Of course even if I hadn't used Law of the Rune, all you would've gotten off was a cheap shot. On my next turn I'll just use Gustav Omega's effect to blow your so-called ace card away and end you."

"I activate Magi Magi Magician Gal's effect!" Kotori announced. "I detach one overlay unit and banish one card from my hand to summon Night Express Knight from your Graveyard!"

One of the balls of light orbiting Magician Gal entered the brooch on her chest. Magician Gal closed her eyes and put her hand on her chest as the ankh tattoo above her brooch glowed with a white light. A gigantic version of the ankh symbol glowed on the ground behind Kotori. Night Express Knight materialized on the battlefield behind Kotori.

"And what was swiping one of my monsters from the Graveyard supposed to accomplish?" Anna asked.

"I activate the Spell card, Number Overlay Bypass!" Kotori announced. "By banishing a Number from my Graveyard, I can use a monster with a level I control as material to Xyz Summon a Number monster with a Rank equal to that monster's level! I banish Utopia and use Night Express Knight to build the overlay network! Help me out, Number 81: Superdreadnought Rail Cannon Superior Dora!"

A gigantic vortex in the form of a galaxy appeared on the ground behind Kotori and pulled in Night Express Knight as a ball of red energy. Rising out of the vortex was a spherical grey and black object that looked like an engine part. Orbiting around it was a single ball of red light. The object quickly expanded and transformed into a massive blue and grey machine that looked the torso of some giant robot. Attached to the base of machine as a means to pull it along the ground were two pairs of grey bullet trains. Mounted on the top of one train in each pair was a long narrow black cannon barrel. On the left grey shoulder plate of the torso-like machine was the number 81 written in red alien writing. In place of a head, the machine had a long black cannon barrel with glowing red circuit paths running along it.

"A Rail Cannon Number?" a stunned Anna asked. "How's that possible?"

"This Number represents the friendship between you and Yuma." Kotori told her. "I can tell he must think of you as a good friend if this Number took the form it has now."

"It that supposed to make me feel better?" Anna bitterly asked.

"Anna, I know there's not anything I can say to make the pain you must be feeling go away." Kotori continued. "But right now, you have to push that pain aside! Right now Yuma's in terrible danger! If Mitaka gets to him, she'll make him her slave! If you really love Yuma, you have to let me go help him!"

"I… I don't have to do anything except blow your ass away!" Anna declared.

"Then I guess we have to do this the hard way." Kotori sighed. "I activate another Spell card, Empowered Number! This card lets me add the ATK of all other Xyz Monsters I have out to a Number monster! So I add Magician Gal's 2400 ATK to Superior Dora's 3200 ATK, which means Dora's ATK becomes 5600!"

Magician Gal flew high into the air and landed on the top of Superior Dora. Both monsters began to glow with a pink aura.

"I attack Gustav Omega with Superior Dora!" Kotori declared.

"And I activate a Trap card from my hand, Rune Counterstrike!" Anna announced.

"A Trap that can be activate from the hand!" Kotori exclaimed.

"Only when I have a Rune Mystic monster on the field!" Anna explained. "Rune Counterstrike lets me destroy one of your monsters and inflict 800 points of damage! Which means Superior Dora's headed for the scrapheap!"

"I'm afraid not, because I activate Dora's effect!" Kotori announced. "During either player's turn, I can detach an overlay unit from Dora to protect a monster from other card effects. Which means Dora won't be affected by your Trap!"

The single ball of red light orbiting Dora entered a red light on its chest. As a bolt of orange lightning came down from the sky towards the rail cannon, a transparent red barrier appeared around Dora and blocked it.

"Magician Gal! Dora! Attack Gustav Omega and end this!" Kotori commanded. "Supreme Magic Cannon Shot!"

Superior Dora aimed its cannon at Gustav Omega as a large crackling ball of pink energy formed at the end of Magician Gal's wand. Superior Dora fired around from its cannon at the same moment Magician Gal fired her wand. The two attacks joined together and struck Gustav Omega, destroying the wicked rail cannon in a massive explosion. The resulting blast blew Anna back several feet as her life points dropped from 4000 to zero in a second. With the duel at an end, Kotori's monsters vanished and the surroundings returned to normal.

Kotori quickly ran to Anna's side and found she was still conscious, though just barely. She kneeled down to see how badly hurt her rival was.

"Are you okay Anna?" Kotori asked.

"Well… it looks like you beat me." Anna observed. "Guess you can go to Yuma if you want."

"I never wanted things to turn out like this." Kotori told her with a tear in her eye.

Anna merely pulled a card from her duel disk. "Here… take this."

Kotori took the card that Anna handed her and was surprised. "Rank-Up-Magic Rune Force?"

"If… if Yuma really is in trouble… than maybe that can help you save him." Anna replied. "Hell… you might be able to use it better than I…"

Anna lost consciousness before she could finish her sentence. Kotori got to her feet and wiped her tears. Composing herself, Kotori looked back towards the park. She knew Yuma was still waiting for him. After slipping the card Anna had given him into his deck, Kotori ran towards the park.

* * *

Yuma had been running for the past several minutes trying to get away from Samantha. But no matter where he went in the park, the redhead seemed to find him instantly. Running out of breath, Yuma collapsed to his knees. Samantha calmly walked up from the front and stood over him.

"Looks like we're finally done with this little game of tag of yours." Samantha told him. "Why not just give in? You'll suffer a lot less if you do."

"I… I'll never give in to you." Yuma declared. Suddenly he winced as his curse mark began to glow through his shirt.

"See? You don't have much longer." Samantha told him. "I'd give you twenty, maybe thirty minutes at the most. If you don't give in to me, you'll die. And it'll be a very painful death too."

"No way." Yuma insisted.

"Come on, Yuma. Do you realize what I'm offering you?" Samantha asked. "I'll give the kind of pleasure that will set your soul on fire long after you've died a normal death."

"I just told you no." Yuma responded. "I'd never betray Kotori like that."

"What! You're turning me down because of her?" an outraged Samantha asked. "Why?"

"Because… I love her." Yuma answered.

Her rage boiling over, Samantha kneed Yuma in the chin. Yuma fell to the ground and was out like a light. Suddenly the redhead heard Kotori calling Yuma's name. She turned to see the green-haired girl standing a few feet away and breathing heavily.

"Well, it looks like Anna wasn't able to do her job." Samantha observed.

"Get away from Yuma!" Kotori ordered.

"You know there's only one way I'll do that, birdie-girl." Samantha replied. "Let's settle this once and for all."

"I guess I have no choice." Kotori replied.

With that, a pair of black-feathered angelic wings appeared on Samantha's back and her body glowed with a red light. The light cleared to reveal the redhead in her Barian form. She had gold armor with white trim covering her chest, in the center of which was a white Barian Emblem with a red spherical gem. Around her waist was a short shimmering gold skirt with a slit in the right side, kept in place by a white belt with an ornate gold buckle set with a red gemstone.

"So that's what you really look like." Kotori observed. "I knew you were a monster."

"This won't be like the first time we dueled, birdie-girl." Mitaka warned. "This time I won't be holding anything back."

"Neither will I!" Kotori declared.

Kotori activated her D-Gazer and duel disk. Meanwhile, Mitaka's left eye changed from gold to green and a gold blade-like duel disk appeared on her left arm. The dark stormy clouds above became tinted red.

"I'm going to rip you to shreds in this duel!" Mitaka declared. "And after I'm done, Yuma's ass will be all mine!"

* * *

**Author's Note:** I had been toying with the idea of Kotori using Number 81 in her duel with Anna since the beginning of this story. The decision about whether or not Number 81 should show up depended on if I could come up with a reasonable explanation of why the Number was a Rail Cannon monster. At this moment though I kind of wish there was an episode of the anime where Anna did end up with Number 81. That would've been a funny (and perhaps scary) episode.

Please review and let me know what you think.


	18. Mitaka the Witch

**Author's Note:** Get ready, because the next Devil Number is about to reveal itself in this next chapter.

**Disclaimer:** I do not own Yu-Gi-Oh! ZEXAL.

* * *

Chapter 18: Mitaka the Witch

"I'll let you go first, birdie-girl." Mitaka decided. "It seems only fair that I give you the first shot."

Kotori took a big gulp as she drew her first card. "I summon Summoner Monk in Defense Mode!"

Appearing on Kotori's side of the battlefield in a cross-legged position was an old man with light-blue skin and red eyes. He had long white hair that grew down from the hood of his purple and white robes and had a white mustache.

"I activate Summoner Monk's effect!" Kotori announced. "By discarding a Spell card, I can summon another monster from my deck. I use Summoner Monk's effect to summon Mystical Elf in Defense Mode!"

The monk chanted an odd spell and a small column of green light appeared next to him. The light faded to reveal Kotori's blue-skinned elf.

"Using the level four Mystical Elf and Summoner Monk, I build the overlay network and Xyz Summon Number 39: Utopia!" Kotori announced.

A large vortex appeared on the middle of the field and pulled in Kotori's two monsters as balls of golden energy. An ornate giant white sword with two balls of gold light orbiting it appeared out of the vortex and quickly took the form of Utopia.

"That ends my turn." Kotori announced.

"Already running scared, I see." Mitaka chuckled as she drew her next card. "Well I don't blame you. After all, this duel is going to be your swan song."

"I haven't lost yet." Kotori pointed out.

"No, but you're about to." Mitaka replied. "Since you have a monster on the field and I don't, I can special summon Shadow Cat Familiar from my hand!"

A black shadow appeared on Mitaka's side of the field and took the form of a small black cat with a golden left eye and a blue right eye. On its forehead was a red patch of fur that was shaped like a star.

"Because I special summoned Shadow Cat Familiar using its effect, I can banish two Spell cards from my hand to summon two more Shadow Cat Familiars from my deck." Mitaka announced.

The cat's eyes glowed and two shadows extended from where he was sitting on the ground. From the ends of the shadows, two more identical black cats emerged.

"Three level five monsters!" Kotori realized.

"That's right! And using my three level five Shadow Cat Familiars, I build the overlay network and Xyz Summon my ultimate monster!" Mitaka announced. "Arise, Number 665: Witch Queen Agatha!"

A red galaxy appeared in the middle of the battlefield and pulled in the three cats as balls of orange energy. Rising out of the galaxy a moment later was a large ornate black sphere with what looked like a black and grey pin sticking through the top and bottom. On the front of the sphere in grey was a face consisting of two eyes and a jagged smile, and orbiting around it were three orange fireballs. The object soon burst into flames and changed form.

In moments the flames died down to reveal a woman with light-green skin wearing a black dress with long sleeves and a long skirt that completely covered her legs. She had long flowing dark-blue hair, and her fingers ended with sharp black nails that were like claws. The skin that showed on her neck looked like it had been burned, and a mask covered her face. The right side of the mask was white and looked like the face of a beautiful woman, while the left side was black and had a red eyes with half of a jagged red smile. On her head head the woman wore a large black conical hat with a wide brim and a yellow band with the number 665 written in red alien writing on the front.

"A monster with 3400 ATK?" Kotori observed.

"These Numbers certainly are interesting, aren't they?" Mitaka remarked. "Each one is almost like the page of a giant storybook that tells the tale of whoever happened to find them, and the numbers they bare are like the page numbers."

"So what, you were a witch?" Kotori asked.

"Well, since I brought it up, I guess it's only fair that I tell you about my past life as a human." Mitaka decided with a shrug. "After all, you already know a bit about Ani's past life. Tell me, birdie-girl. Do you know anything about the Salem Witch Trials?"

"I think I heard about them once long ago." Kotori recalled.

"They were a big farce that took place in Salem Massachusetts during the late 1600s." Mitaka explained. "Those idiot humans from back then thought that witches lived among them and were using their powers to bring disaster. The trials were a way to try and expose those witches and destroy them. Of course there weren't really any witches living in that little village, and all the evidence used to convict the people accused of witchcraft was a load of crap. Looking at it now, that time really is the ultimate testament to how idiotic humans are."

"So is that what happened to you? You were accused of being a witch?" Kotori asked.

"You're kinda jumping ahead in my story, but yeah." Mitaka confirmed. "Back then, I was just a simple sixteen-year-old village girl named Samantha Warren. Like everyone in that town during that time, I was afraid of the so-called witches, but I didn't care about it much. I was in love with a young man named Adam Smith. The two of us had vowed to get married one day when we came of age, but the bitch that called herself my best friend at the time had other plans.

"My so-called friend also wanted Adam, so she accused me of witchcraft and faked being under a curse, something that was super easy to do. What stunned me the most during that time was how everyone in the town bought into it, even Adam. It got worse when my ex-best friend accused me of using black magic to bend Adam to my will. Everyone believed the accusation. My parents. My friends. Even Adam. They all thought I was a monster, and with no way to defend myself I was found guilty and sentenced to be burned at the stake.

"Just before my execution I happened upon the very Number that you see before you now. I was tied to the steak clutching that card in my hands and watched as everyone cheered for my death as the fire began to burn, even Adam. And in that moment as the fire burned me I finally realized that love doesn't exist. It's just a concept humans came up with to justify the desire to hump like bunnies and reproduce."

"…I'm sorry about what happened to you in your past life." Kotori admitted. "I couldn't imagine anything like that happening to me. But…"

"I'm gonna stop you right there, birdie-girl." Mitaka interrupted. "If you're going to try to appeal to my humanity, you're wasting your breath. My human heart died ages ago when I burned at the stake, just as Ani's human heart died when she offed herself. Our only desire is to plunge this world into endless shadow, and nothing you say will change that. Now then, I believe I was just about to kill you. I attack Utopia with Witch Queen Agatha!"

"I activate Utopia's effect and detach an overlay unit to negate your attack!" Kotori quickly announced.

"I don't think so, because I now activate Witch Queen Agatha's effect!" Mitaka announced just as one of the balls of light orbiting Utopia entered his chest. "By detaching an overlay unit, I can negate a monster's effect and destroy it! And then you take 400 points of damage times that monster's level or Rank!"

At that moment, one of the fireballs orbiting Agatha entered the red eye on the black side of her mask. A red fireball appeared in the witch's hand and she threw it at Utopia. The white Number warrior burst into flames.

"Yes! Burn!" Mitaka cackled. "Burn just as I did for your crimes of magic!"

Utopia soon exploded and Kotori was knocked to the ground. Her life points had dropped down to 2800.

"Looks like this is the end." Mitaka remarked as Kotori managed to get back up. "Witch Queen Agatha, attack her directly! Vengeful Witchfire!"

Agatha aimed the palms of her hands and Kotori and sent a massive storm of flames right at her. Before the blast could hit though, a swarm of brown fur balls with large yellow and purple eyes and four scaly green legs appeared in front of Kotori and exploded at the flames hit. When the smoke cleared, Kotori's life points were untouched.

"Those… those fur balls!" Mitaka spoke as her left eye twitched. "Don't tell me that you used…"

"I discarded Kuriboh to block the damage from Agatha's attack." Kotori confirmed before Mitaka could finish.

"You're really getting on my nerves, birdie-girl." Mitaka declared. "Fine! For my next move I play the Spell, Card Destruction! Now we both have to discard our current hands and draw the same number of cards from our decks."

Kotori looked at the two new cards, which were Gagaga Magician and Gagaga Dimension. She new if she also had Gagaga Girl, she could use Gagaga Dimension to destroy Agatha and bring Gagaga Magician to the field to summon Magi Magi Magician Gal. But she had just lost Gagaga Girl thanks to Card Destruction.

"Just so you know, Agatha has another little effect that applies to both of us." Mitaka continued. As long as she's on the field, all the Spell cards we use from now on are banished instead of going to the Graveyard. Each time either of us special summons a monster that isn't a Spellcaster, we take a hundred points of damage times the number of banished Spell cards."

_'Which means I have to be careful about how many Spell cards I use and what monsters I summon.'_ Kotori mentally realized.

"I'll set a card on the field and end my turn." Mitaka announced. "Your move, birdie-girl."

Kotori took a deep breath and drew her next card. She hoped that the card she pulled next would be the key to getting her out of the fix she was in.

* * *

Vector and Alit stood back to back as they continued to fight off Mitaka's legion of brainwashed male duelists. Alit had out Star Cestus and Nova Kaiser while Vector had already summoned Dark Mist and Umbral Horror Masquerade. The two of them still had most of their life points and had already taken out a good chunk of the legion, but more duelists were still coming and the duo was starting to wear down.

"Jeez! It's like Mitaka and her gang of sluts got to every young guy in the city who uses a deck!" Vector observed. "I'm not sure how much longer we can keep this up."

"We have to keep going!" Alit told him. "Right now Yuma and Kotori are counting on us! We have to keep these guys busy for as long as we can!"

"We're gonna end you right here!" one of the brainwashed duelists declared. "Prepare to die!"

"Go, Giant Hand!" a familiar voice commanded. "Crush that Battle Ox and take that guy out!"

Flying through the air to Alit's left was a large hand made of grey stone with two yellow lights orbiting it. In the center of its palm was a yellow eye with green metal lids, and each of its fingers ended with a similar mechanical eye. The hand grabbed onto the armored Minotaur belonging to the duelist that had just spoke and crushed it to death. The Minotaur shattered to bits and the duelist's life points dropped to zero. Alit and Vector looked, and walking up to them was a large muscular young man with a green Mohawk wearing a black leather jacket with a white t-shirt and grey jeans. The strap of a brown gym bag was slung over his shoulder. Alit and Vector instantly recognized this young man as their fellow ex-Barian, Gilag.

"Boy, are we glad to see you!" Alit declared.

"What the heck's going on here anyway?" Gilag asked.

"It's a long story, but we can really use your help right now." Alit told him.

"Where the hell have you been anyway?" Vector asked. "Alit said something about a training journey of some kind."

"Oh, that. I went to learn from this chef who lives outside the city." Gilag answered. "The guy's supposed to be a legend."

"Wait! You left to learn better cooking skills?" Alit asked.

"Yeah, I figured Nasch and Durbe would let me cook for all of us if I got better at it." Gilag explained.

"Your problem wasn't your cooking ability so much as it was the fact that you used expired meat." Alit pointed out.

"Can we talk about this after we're not overrun by brainwashed duelists?" Vector asked.

"Right." Alit agreed. "Though even with Gilag's help, this is probably gonna take a while."

"Tachyon Spiral of Destruction!" a familiar voice commanded.

Suddenly a beam of light came down from above and took out another one of the brainwashed duelist's monsters, taking his life points to zero. The three looked up to see a black mechanical dragon flying above them. They turned around and standing a few feet away from them a young man with long blonde hair and red markings on his cheeks. He had on a white blazer with a blue shirt and black slacks. The three instantly recognized the young man as another fellow ex-Barian, Mizael. Standing next to Mizael with a suitcase on wheels was a young woman with silver hair that had points at the top like cat ears and wore glasses. The gang knew this young woman as Mizael's girlfriend, Cathy.

"Looks like this might not take too long after all." Vector observed.

"What have you dolts gotten us into now?" Mizael demanded to know.

"We'll explain everything after we take these guys down!" Alit told him. "Now let's get 'em!"

* * *

Kotori looked at the card she drew and saw she had pulled Gagaga Sister. Suddenly a way to turn the duel around seemed to come to together.

_'I can use Gagaga Dimension with Gagaga Sister and use her effect to match levels with Gagaga Magician!'_ Kotori realized. _'But what card should I get using her other effect?'_

_"Kotori!"_ Astral's voice spoke in her head. _"Use Gagaga Sister to bring Gagagadraw to your hand!"_

_'Gagagadraw? But why?'_ Kotori asked.

"Just trust me!" Astral told her.

Kotori nodded and proceeded with her move. "I summon Gagaga Sister in Attack Mode!" The young blonde magical girl materialized on the battlefield. "Using Gagaga Sister's effect, I add Gagagadraw to my hand!"

"And just what good is that going to do you?" Mitaka asked.

"I activate the Spell, Gagaga Dimension!" Kotori announced. "With Gagaga Sister on the field, I use this Spell to summon Gagaga Magician!"

A burst of smoke went off on Kotori's side of the battlefield and cleared to reveal Gagaga Sister sticking through the middle of a sarcophagus secured inside a square frame. The sarcophagus opened up and Gagaga Magician emerged.

"And now using the second effect of Gagaga Dimension, I destroy Witch Queen Agatha!" Kotori announced.

The two Spellcasters brought their wands together and blasted Agatha with a bolt of pink electricity. Upon being hit, the witch burst into flames and turned into dark ash that blew away on the breeze.

"Not bad." An unconcerned Mitaka declared.

"I activate Gagaga Sister's other effect and match her level with Gagaga Magician's making them both level six!" Kotori announced. Gagaga Sister happily waved her wand though the air, causing pink sparkles to rain down on her and Gagaga Magician. "I now use my two level six monsters to Xyz Summon Magi Magi Magician Gal!"

Another vortex appeared in the middle of the battlefield and pulled in Kotori's two monsters as balls of purple energy. Moments later the Magician Gal appeared out of the vortex with two balls of purple light orbiting around her.

"Magician Gal, attack Mitaka directly!" Kotori commanded. "Dark Blazing Magic!"

"I activate my Trap, Vengeful Rekindling!" Mitaka announced. "When I'm attacked directly, Vengeful Rekindling lets me negate that attack and summon a Fire attribute Xyz Monster from my Graveyard! And if the monster that tried to attack me was an Xyz Monster, its overlay units are detached and you take 600 points of damage for each one! Now reappeared, Witch Queen Agatha!"

Before Magician Gal could fire a shot from her wand, a pillar of flames burst to life on the field and sent a powerful shockwave in all directions. Magician Gal was blown back slightly and the two balls of light orbiting her became red fireballs that blew back and struck Kotori. Kotori's life points took a drop to 1600. After a few moments the flames subsided to reveal Witch Queen Agatha.

"Did you really think I wouldn't be prepared for a move like that?" Mitaka asked. "I know every one of your little tricks, birdie-girl and I'm ready for each one. Face it. You're finished. And before I'm through with you, you'll burn the way I did all those years ago!"

* * *

**Author's Note:** This chapter more or less explains why this story is called The Heartland Witch. Mitaka's backstory was inspired by a Vocaloid video called Witch (or Witch Hunt, I can't remember). To this days it's still my absolute favorite Vocaloid video. By the way, the appearance of Witch Queen Agatha's sealed form is based on the grief seeds from the anime, Puella Magi Madoka Magica.

Please review and let me know what you think.


	19. Magic Number

**Author's Note:** This is probably the earliest in the day I've ever updated a story. The reason for it is because I have to mow the lawn this afternoon, which causes me to lose time to write. So I decided to at least try and get a head start on this chapter late last night. What ended up happening though is that this chapter came together so fast that I wound up finishing the whole thing. Of course I was up until about 1:30 AM, but whatever. Enjoy the show.

**Disclaimer:** I do not own Yu-Gi-Oh! ZEXAL.

* * *

Chapter 19: Magic Number

"It's still your move, birdie-girl." Mitaka reminded Kotori. "Might as well make the most of it since it'll be your last."

"I… I activate the Spell, Gagagadraw!" Kotori announced. "I banish Gagaga Girl, Gagaga Magician and Gagaga Sister from the Graveyard to draw two more cards!"

"That's it?" Mitaka chuckled. "Well, at least those Gagaga monsters of yours weren't a total waste."

"I set two cards on the field and end my turn!" Kotori announced.

Mitaka drew her next card. "I activate the Spell card, Xyz Mage Restoration! Since I have a Spellcaster Xyz Monster with no overlay units, I can take up to three monsters from my Graveyard and attach them to that monster as new overlay units. So I'll just attach the three Shadow Cat Familiars in my Graveyard to Agatha!

Three red fireballs suddenly burst up from the ground behind Agatha. The fireballs were immediately drawn into the witch's orbit.

"Agatha, incinerate that obnoxious blonde!" Mitaka ordered. "Vengeful Witchfire!"

"I activate my Trap, Wobaku!" Kotori announced. "This card prevents Magician Gal's destruction and reduces the damage I would take to zero!"

Just as Agatha let loose another storm of red flames three people in blue robes suddenly appeared in front of Magician Gal. The flames struck an invisible barrier created by the three monk-like figures. As soon as the flames died down, the robed figures vanished.

"You've got this annoying habit of staying alive. You know that?" Mitaka remarked. "Ah well. You may have managed to hang in there for this long, but there's no way you can come back from this. I'll just end my turn here. If you were smart, you'd surrender now."

_'She may be right.'_ Kotori thought. _'I don't think there's any card left in my deck that can change this around.'_

_"Do not give up… Kotori!"_ Astral's voice spoke in her head. _"You've already… gathered everything you need to win this duel."_

_'But… what else can I do?'_ Kotori asked.

_"All you have to do… is believe that you can save Yuma."_ Astral told her. _"If your belief is strong enough… the card you need shall appear."_

Kotori closed her eyes and took a deep breath, slowly reaching for her next card. The only thought on her mind at that moment was saving Yuma. As she drew her next card, it glowed with a brilliant light. Kotori opened her right eye to look at the glowing card and saw that it was Rank-Up-Magic Rune Force. In seconds though, the card changed into a completely new Spell card. The illustration showed a round golden crest with alien writing in the language of Astral World engraved on the rim. In the center was a strange wadjat eye over a carving of the Emperor's Key.

_'What… what is this?'_ Kotori wondered.

_"That card… is the true form of Rune Force and the key to saving Yuma."_ Astral explained. _"You know what you must do next."_

Kotori nodded and turned her attention back to the duel. "I activate my Trap, Xyz Reborn! With this card, I summon Utopia from the Graveyard!"

In a flash of golden light, Utopia reappeared on the battlefield. The large Trap card that Kotori used became a ball of gold light that was pulled into Utopia's orbit.

"So you brought back Utopia, but it's gonna cost ya." Mitaka told her. "Because of Agatha's effect, you now take 100 points of damage for all the Spell cards that have been banished! And since there are eight banished cards, your life points are cut in half!"

A bolt of red lightning came down and struck Kotori. Kotori fell to one knee and her life points dropped to 800. As soon as she caught her breath, Kotori got back up.

"I activate the Spell, Rank-Up-Magic Magician's Force!" Kotori announced.

"Magician's Force?" a surprised Mitaka repeated.

"This card was made from the Rune Force card that you gave to Anna!" Kotori explained. "She gave that card to me so I could save Yuma from you!"

"Well however you got it, you're only killing yourself with that card." Mitaka told her. "Unless you're going to use that thing to rank up Magician Gal into a more powerful Spellcaster, you'll take another 800 points of damage from Agatha's effect."

"Magician's Force takes an Xyz Monster and uses it to summon a Spellcaster of the same attribute but one Rank higher!" Kotori explained. "In other words, it can change an Xyz Monster into a Spellcaster!"

"What!" Mitaka exclaimed. "Wait… so that means…"

"I use Utopia to rebuild the overlay network and Xyz Summon a new magician to the field!" Kotori announced. "Help me out, Number C39: Utopia Mage!"

A glowing gold version of the crest from the Magician's Force card appeared under Utopia's feet and shot a pillar of golden light into the air. In moments the light faded to reveal Utopia in a brand new form. His helmet had changed to look like a white conical hat with spiraling gold trim that curved forward, and around his neck was a high collar made of golden armor. His white wings had been replaced by a long flowing cape made of a shimmering gold fabric, and hanging from the front of his waist was a golden breechcloth with black writing on the front in the language of Astral World. The golden armor around the green gem in the center of Utopia's chest had changed to look like a wadjat eye. In his right hand Utopia carried a long golden staff with a green gem fitted in the top.

"You may have changed that Number of yours into a magician, but he only has 2800 ATK!" Mitaka pointed out. "There's no way he can take down Agatha!"

"I activate Utopia Mage's effect!" Kotori announced. "Because he has Utopia as an overlay unit, Utopia Mage can add the ATK of another Spellcaster I have on the field to his own until the end of the turn! Which means until the end of the turn, he gains Magician Gal's ATK!"

"Except I activate Agatha's effect!" Mitaka announced. "By detaching one of her overlay units I can negate Utopia Mage's effect and destroy him!"

As one of the two balls of golden light orbiting Utopia Mage entered the gem on his chest, one of the fireballs orbiting Agatha entered the red eye of her mask. Agatha threw a fireball at Utopia Mage, but the attack hit a spherical barrier that suddenly appeared around the white magician.

"What!" Mitaka exclaimed. "How is this possible?"

"Any monster summoned using Magician's Force can't be destroyed by card effects until the end of the turn." Kotori explained.

Magician Gal closed her eyes and a stream of pink energy flowed from her into Utopia Mage. When the energy stopped, Utopia Mage began glowing with a brilliant golden aura.

"There's one more thing you should know, Mitaka!" Kotori continued. "As long as Utopia Mage is on the field, any Spell cards we use get banished instead of going to the Graveyard."

"So?" the redheaded Barian asked. "That's the same kind of effect Agatha has."

"When Utopia Mage attacks a monster, that monster loses 300 ATK for each banished Spell card during the battle!" Kotori explained. "And since there are now nine Spell cards banished, Agatha will lose 2700 ATK!"

"But with Utopia Mage's ATK at 5200, that means…" Mitaka realized.

"That means you lose!" Kotori declared. "Utopia Mage, attack Witch Queen Agatha! Hope Ray Magic Blast!"

A massive ball of crackling golden energy formed at the end of Utopia Mage's staff. Utopia Mage fired the blast at Agatha as it continued to grow in size. The witch was vaporized in an instant and the attack kept going and struck Mitaka. The redheaded Barian shrieked as her life points plunged from 4000 to zero in a split second. Mitaka was knocked onto her back and the duel finally came to an end. As soon as Kotori's two monsters vanished and the stormy sky above returned to its original color, Kotori ran over to Yuma's side.

Before Mitaka could get up, Kotori got out the sphere cube that Kaito had given her and pressed the top with her thumb. Mitaka looked up just in time to see an expanding ball of blue light envelope Kotori and Yuma. As she got up and watch the sphere field life off the ground, Mitaka let out an angry scream, realizing that Yuma had become out of her reach.

"Dammit!" Mitaka cursed. "I'm not going to let it end this way!"

Just as Mitaka raised her hands forward to fire a burst of crackling red electricity at the sphere, Kaito suddenly flew down from above and got between her and the orb. Orbital 7 detached himself from Kaito's back and got out of the line of fire.

"This has gone far enough!" Kaito told Mitaka.

"Are you asking to die, human?" Mitaka asked. "Because I can gladly arrange that for you!"

With that, Mitaka fired the electrical blast she had intended for the sphere at Kaito. Kaito pressed a button on his belt buckle and a transparent blue barrier appeared around him to block the attack.

"I've already taken a few precautions against you and your fellow Death Queens." Kaito told her. "The only way to get rid of me is through a duel. But if I'm right, anything else you try will be too late."

* * *

Yuma slowly opened his eyes and saw that Kotori was by his side on her knees. He also noticed the worried expression on the green-haired girl's face. All around them was a bright blue light that as far as Yuma could tell seemed to go on forever.

"Kotori? Is that really you?" Yuma weakly asked.

"Yeah, it's me." Kotori confirmed as she took his hand with both of hers.

"Where are we?" Yuma asked as he managed to sit up a bit.

"That doesn't matter right now." Kotori told him. "Are you feeling okay?"

Before Yuma could answer her, he felt a burning pain in his chest and his curse mark glowed through his shirt. The sight of it caused the color to drain from Kotori's face. Kotori quickly managed to pull his shirt off before he had a chance to protest. The green-haired girl covered her mouth to stifle cry. The mark was spreading out like an infected rash over the front of Yuma's torso.

"Yeah, I don't really know what this is." Yuma told her. "Whenever I've tried to tell anyone about it, something stops me. I can't really explain it."

"Yuma… do you trust me?" Kotori asked.

"…Of course I do?" Yuma asked. "Why?

Kotori merely answered by moving in to kiss Yuma on the lips. The kiss soon deepened and Kotori opened her mouth to push her tongue into Yuma's. When the broke for air after a few moments, Kotori pulled off her shirt to reveal her pink bra. Yuma's jaw dropped and Kotori looked away slightly as her face turned red out of embarrassment. She undid her bra and tossed it away, revealing her bare breasts to Yuma.

"Uh… Kotori?" Yuma managed to speak. "What're you…?"

Kotori silenced him by placing a finger on his lips. "Don't talk. Just… just go with it, okay?"

With that, Kotori unzipped Yuma's pants and reached in to take out his already hardened manhood. Kotori held it for a moment as it throbbed in her hand. She mentally had to admit that it was a little larger than she expected. After a moment, Kotori let go and mounted Yuma. She pushed the crotch of her panties aside and got onto Yuma's rod, wincing at it penetrated her. Kotori hadn't expected the pain to be so great, but she had to endure it.

Kotori gently began to rock her hips, trying to get used to the feeling of Yuma being inside her. But when she saw Yuma's curse mark begin to glow again, she panicked and moved faster. Yuma meanwhile became fixated on the bouncing of Kotori's breasts as she continued to pick up speed.

"Oh man! Kotori… I think I'm gonna…" Yuma spoke.

Suddenly Kotori felt a warmth shoot into her as Yuma hit his climax. The curse mark vanished from Yuma's chest in a matter of seconds. At the same time his eyes glowed briefly red as he shook his head.

"Are… are you okay Yuma?" Kotori asked.

"I… I remember everything that happened." Yuma responded. "That girl who showed up in the park… she was a Death Queen, wasn't she?"

"That's right." Kotori answered. "She put a curse on you. One that I just broke."

"Wait… you mean in order to break this curse, you and I had to…?" Yuma began to ask.

Kotori nodded. Then she suddenly broke into tears and covered her face with her hands.

"What's wrong?" a concerned Yuma asked.

"I never wanted it to be this way." Kotori sobbed. "I wanted our first time making love to be special. Nothing like this."

Yuma smiled and gently took hold of her cheek, wiping away a tear with his thumb. "It still can be, Kotori. We can keep going, if you like."

After a moment, Kotori nodded. Yuma sat up a little further and met Kotori in another deep kiss.

* * *

A ray of sunlight suddenly burst through the stormy clouds above the park. In moments the clouds dispersed completely and the skies of Heartland were clear.

"No! My curse and this spell over the city have both been broken!" Mitaka lamented. "All the work I've done, ruined! My only comfort right now is that birdie-girl probably didn't enjoy humping Yuma. They've only been in that ball of light for a few seconds and the curse has already been lifted."

"Time theoretically moves a little bit faster inside that sphere field I created." Kaito told her. "So for us, a few seconds is all it was going to take for your little curse to be undone."

"Actually M-Master Kaito." Orbital 7 began. "Comparing the theoretically increased flow of time to ours, Yuma and Kotori's copulation has probably only taken…"

"Quiet Orbital!" Kaito snapped.

"Y-yes sir." Orbital 7 responded.

At that moment, Droite arrived on a purple motorcycle and pulled up next to the sphere field. She dismounted and walked over to Kaito's side.

"Sorry I didn't get here sooner." Droite told Kaito.

"Don't worry about it. Everything's pretty much under control." Kaito replied. "Now that Mitaka's curse is broken, there's nothing more she can do."

"I can still take you out in a duel!" Mitaka pointed out.

"You're welcome to try!" Kaito dared. "But I doubt you'd do very well. Kotori's proven herself to be a pretty strong duelist, but I'm better than her. If you couldn't win against Kotori, what makes you think you'd do any better than me?"

Mitaka seemed to be at a loss as to how to respond to that question. Suddenly a portal in the form of a red galaxy opened up behind Mitaka and grabbed everyone's attention. Walking out was another female Barian with blue skin like that of the Egyptian god, Osiris. Her black hair was like that of a wig worn by an Egyptian princess, and on her forehead was a kind of golden tiara with a golden sun disk between a small pair of golden wings. Her face seemed to lack any sort of nose and mouth, and her eyes seemed to be covered in black mascara. The Barian woman's right eye was gold while her left eye was red. She had on a white mini-dress with a golden sash around the waist and a golden Barian Emblem on the chest, along with a pair of golden sandals and gold bracelets around her ankles and wrists, and on her back was a pair of red-feathered angelic wings.

"Oh crap!" Mitaka spoke.

The other Barian woman walked past Mitaka and stood before Kaito and Droite. "I am Alnia, leader of the Barian Death Queens."

"So you're the one who's been behind everything that's been happening!" Kaito deduced.

"More or less." Alnia replied. "My mistake so far though has been letting my idiot underlings come up with the plans for these attacks. This little farce of Mitaka's has ended up being worse than Anitak's convoluted scheme."

"Alnia, I…" Mitaka began.

"Quiet, you ignorant slut!" Alnia ordered. "Hold your tongue until we get back to the hideout!"

"So why have you come?" Kaito asked. "Are you going to try and get to Yuma yourself?"

"Maybe." Alnia replied. "Though I'm mostly here to see how strong my completion really is."

"Well the only way you're going to get to Yuma is through me!" Kaito declared.

"Me too!" Droite responded. "He and Kotori have been through enough over the last few days!"

"Okay, I'll take you both on at once." Alnia agreed. "But you have no idea what you're getting yourselves into."

* * *

**Author's Note:** For those who were expecting Kotori to use Rune Force as is, sorry if this chapter was a let down. But it was always my plan for Kotori to use a Spellcaster version of Utopia to combat Mitaka and her Number. Anyway, this story may have reached its climax already, but it's not done quite just yet. In the next chapter, Alnia shows off what she's capable of.

Please review and let me know what you think.


	20. Number 666

**Author's Note:** Here it is, the final chapter of this story. And also the final Devil Number. I had originally planned to wait and show this Number off until the next story, but I decided to go ahead with a little preview of it.

**Disclaimer:** I do not own Yu-Gi-Oh! ZEXAL.

* * *

Chapter 20: Number 666

"We'll do this as a two-on-one duel." Alnia told Kaito and Droite. "Both sides will have 8000 life points to start off with. Sound good?"

"Fine with me!" Kaito agreed.

"Let's get this over with!" Droite responded.

With that, Alnia's red eye turned green and a golden blade-like duel disk appeared on her arm. At the same time, Kaito's outfit changed from black to white. As soon as Kaito and Droite's D-Gazer tattoos activated the sky changed from blue to red.

"I'll go first since I'm sort of at a disadvantage." Alnia announced as she drew her first card. "I summon Archfiend Tomb Builder in Defense Mode!"

Appearing on Alnia's side of the battlefield in a kneeling position was a humanoid demon with dark-grey skin and a skull-like face with red eyes and yellow teeth. He was dressed similar to an Ancient Egyptian and wore a white cloth on his head. In his hands, the demon carried a hammer and chisel.

"When I've normal summoned Archfiend Tomb Builder, I can add a Trap card from my deck to my hand." Alnia announced. "In the time of my former life, the pharaohs would sometimes have their tombs built with booby-traps in order to protect their rotting carcasses and any treasures they wished to be buried with them."

"So you were from Ancient Egypt in your past life?" Kaito asked.

"Yeah, but I wasn't royalty. I was merely a little peasant girl." Alnia answered. "You ever hear of a little village called Kul Elna?"

"Should I have?" Kaito asked.

"…I guess it doesn't matter." Alnia replied after a moment. "I set two cards on the field and end my turn."

"I'll go next!" Droite announced as she drew her first card. "I summon Swallowtail Butterspy in Attack Mode!" The orange and black-winged butterfly woman appeared on the battlefield. "Because I just summoned Swallowtail, I summon Blue Mountain Butterspy!" Droite's blue butterfly woman materialized next to Swallowtail. "Using both my level four monsters, I Xyz Summon Dead Star Butterfly Priestess!"

A vortex appeared in the middle of the field and pulled in Droite's two monsters as balls of purple energy. Soon after, Droite's white-haired butterfly-winged priestess rose from the vortex with two balls of purple light orbiting around her.

"I activate Butterfly Priestess' effect!" Droite announced. "By detaching an overlay unit, Butterfly Priestess can destroy one monster with lower ATK than her own! And of course the monster I choose to destroy is Archfiend Tomb Builder!"

One of the balls of light orbiting Butterfly Priestess entered the red gemstone on her necklace. The white-haired butterfly woman aimed her right hand at Alnia's monster and fired a purple ball of light at the demon. Archfiend Tomb Builder turned to dust upon being hit.

"Thanks, now I can activate Archfiend Tomb Builder's other effect." Alnia announced. "When Archfiend Tomb Builder is destroyed and sent to the Graveyard, I can set two Trap cards directly from my deck onto the field."

_'Damn!'_ Droite mentally cursed. _'I just played right into her hands.'_

"Go on, vampire girl. I know you can do better than that." Alnia told her.

"…Using Butterfly Priestess, I rebuild the overlay network and Xyz Summon Dead Star Papillon Dragon!" Droite announced.

A purple galaxy-like vortex appeared on the field and pulled in Butterfly Priestess as a ball of purple light. Rising out of the vortex soon after was a large black butterfly-shaped brooch with a purple gem in the center and two balls of purple light orbiting around it. The brooch flashed with a blinding light that cleared to reveal Droite's glowing purple dragon.

"Are you sure it's such a good idea to summon that monster?" Kaito asked Droite.

"No… but I don't think we can afford to hold anything back against her." Droite answered. "I'm getting a really bad feeling from Alnia."

"Yeah… me too." Kaito agreed.

"I set one card on the field and end my turn!" Droite announced.

Kaito drew his first card. "I activate the Spell, Photon Sanctuary! With this card, I summon two Photon Tokens to the field!"

Two balls of blue light appeared on Kaito and Droite's side of the field. Each ball had a set of three smaller balls orbiting around them.

"Both Photon Tokens have an ATK of 2000." Kaito announced. "So I now sacrifice them both to special summon the ultimate avatar of light! Come forth, Galaxy-Eyes Photon Dragon!"

The balls of light shattered and a red cross-like object appeared in Kaito's hand. Kaito threw the cross into the air and it exploded with a blinding flash of light. The light cleared and Kaito's glowing blue dragon appeared with a roar.

"Since you just summoned a monster, I can special summon Archfiend Tomb Guardian from my hand in Defense Mode!" Alnia announced.

Appearing on Alnia's field in a kneeling position was another humanoid demon with dark-grey skin and a skull-like face. He was also dressed like an Ancient Egyptian and had a golden helmet on his head. In his right hand, the demon carried a golden crossbow.

"When Archfiend Tomb Guardian is summoned using his effect, I can destroy a set Spell or Trap card on my opponent's field!" Alnia announced.

The demon fired an arrow from his crossbow at Droite's large facedown card. The arrow pierced the back of the card and caused it to shatter into bits of gold light.

"Photon Dragon, attack Archfiend Tomb Guardian!" Kaito commanded. "Photon Stream of Destruction!"

"I activate my Trap, Hate Buster!" Alnia announced. "When a Fiend-type monster of mine is attacked, Hate Buster destroys both it and the attacking monster and deals damage equal to the attacking monster's ATK!"

As soon as Photon Dragon fired a stream of blue energy from his mouth, Alnia's monster exploded into a black mist that sent a shockwave over the entire battlefield. Kaito's dragon was destroyed by the shockwave and the black mist knocked into Kaito and Droite, knocking the couple's life points down to 5000.

"So that's the big bad Photon Dragon." Alnia remarked. "I have to say I'm not really all that impressed. It's a good thing for you though that you didn't summon that dragon's Number form, otherwise you'd probably be dead right now."

"I still have one monster that can attack!" Kaito pointed out. "Papillon Dragon, attack Alnia directly! Photon Stream of Desolation!"

Papillon Dragon fired a stream of purple light from her mouth at Alnia. Before the attack could strike though, a black and grey Egyptian statue with a skull-like face appeared in front of the female Barian and blocked the attack. The statue shattered and sent back bolts of black electricity that struck Kaito and Droite, knocking both of them to their knees. Their life points had taken another drop to 3500.

"M-Master Kaito! Ms. Droite!" a worried Orbital 7 exclaimed.

"What did you do?" Kaito demanded to know.

"I used the effect of a little monster called Cursed Ushebti." Alnia explained. "When I'm attacked directly, I can discard Cursed Ushebit to negate that attack and deal damage equal to half the attacking monster's original ATK."

"She's been ahead of us from the start of this duel." Droite observed as she stood back up. "Meanwhile we've been unable to take even one life point off her."

"It's still your move, Tenjo." Alnia reminded him.

Kaito got back to his feet and glared at Alnia. "I set two cards on the field and end my turn!"

"Okay then." Alnia responded as she drew her next card. "I think it's time I wrapped this up."

* * *

Kotori was on her back as Yuma thrust into her at a hard but steady pace. Both of them were completely naked, their clothes scattered all around the sphere field. It wasn't anything like what had ended up being their first time, rushed, awkward and painful. This time Kotori was completely lost in the pleasure brought by the connection between her and Yuma. As time went on, the pleasure began to build. Kotori could feel herself coming close to the edge as her inner walls tightened around Yuma's manhood.

The green-haired girl wrapped her legs tightly around Yuma's legs and grasped onto his shoulders. Yuma took the signal and began to plow into Kotori harder and deeper. Another eternity seemed to go by, and Kotori felt like she would lose her mind if she didn't reach her peak soon. At long last though, Yuma and Kotori managed to hit their climax at the same moment. Kotori felt a warmth shoot into her as her own body shuddered from its own release.

As Kotori came down from her high, Yuma withdrew himself and lied down next to her on the invisible floor of the sphere field, pulling her close. Kotori cuddled tightly up to Yuma and wrapped her right leg around his legs to compensate for the emptiness now inside her.

"So, um… was that any better Kotori?" Yuma asked.

Kotori smiled and nodded. "That was wonderful, just like I hoped it would be."

"…You know, I think I could go again if you like." Yuma told her.

"Really?" Kotori responded as her face turned a deep red. "Um… okay, sure."

Yuma smiled and the two of them became locked in a deep open-mouthed kiss. When they finally broke for air, Yuma gently pushed Kotori onto her stomach. Kotori was content to let Yuma take the lead. Yuma stood up Kotori let out a small cry of surprise as he took hold of her legs and pulled her up, making it so she had to support herself with her arms while Yuma held her like a wheelbarrow. Yuma then pushed his hardened rod into Kotori's womanhood and began to buck his hips.

Kotori grasped onto the invisible floor of the field as best she could to keep herself from collapsing. Her breasts bounced beneath her as Yuma continued his thrusts. To Kotori, it felt like Yuma's entire body was on fire, and that fire was quickly spreading into her as well. Before long both of them became covered in sweat. Eventually the two of them felt themselves coming close to the edge again. With one final hard thrust from Yuma, they once again reach their climax in the same moment. Kotori let out a deep moan as Yuma hot essence shot into her.

Yuma withdrew himself and gently set Kotori down on the floor of the field. He lied back down next to her and pulled her close. Kotori nuzzled into him and quickly dozed off. Smiling, Yuma kissed Kotori on the forehead.

* * *

"I activate the Spell card, Shadow Trap Disposal!" Alnia announced. "By banishing two Fiend-Type monsters from my Graveyard, I can destroy two set Spell and Trap cards on my opponent's side of the field. So I banish Archfiend Tomb Guardian and Cursed Ushebti to destroy the two set cards you put out!"

Ghostly images of Alnia's two monsters flew through the air and struck Kaito's two facedown cards. The cards exploded into black mist that blew away in the breeze.

"I now activate my three face-down Tomb Trap Soldiers!" Alnia announced. "When activated, these cards become three level six monsters with 2000 ATK!"

Suddenly appearing on Alnia's side of the field were three identical grey Ancient Egyptian statues, each with a skull-like face. The statues all had glowing red eyes and held a saber in their right hand.

"This was her plan all along!" Kaito realized. "She was aiming to summon those three Trap monsters to the field!"

"Using my three level six monsters, I build the overlay network and Xyz Summon the ultimate monster of evil!" Alnia announced. "Come forth, Number 666: Archfiend Pharaoh Lucifer!"

A red galaxy appeared in the center of the field and pulled in Alnia's three statues as balls of red energy. The sky became covered in dark clouds and rumbled with thunder as an object rose out of the vortex. The object in question had three balls of golden light orbiting it and was made of brown stone. It looked similar to the lid of a sarcophagus. Carved into this lid were strangely shaped holes made to fit seven unknown objects. Before Kaito and Droite could fully contemplate this carving, the object suddenly exploded and created a cloud of dust.

The dust soon settled to reveal a new monster hovering above the field in the form of a humanoid demon clad almost completely in black armor with gold trim. The demon had a dark-grey skull-like face with sharp yellow teeth. His right eye was red, while his left eye appeared to be artificial and made of gold. The artificial eye looked like a strange version of the wadjet eye. On his head, the demon wore a gold and black headdress of a pharaoh, and on his chin was a gold and black fake beard that was also sometimes worn by the Ancient Egyptian kings. Hanging from his neck by a silver chain was a gold ring-shaped pendant with a triangular piece in the center that bore a symbol similar to the demon's artificial eye and five pointed ornaments hanging from the lower half. On the demon's back was a pair of large red-feathered wings, and in his right hand he held a gold scepter with a ball at the top that had two blades on the side and the same eye-like symbol as his artificial eye. Glowing in red alien writing on the demon's left shoulder plate was the number 666.

"So that's Alnia's Number." Kaito observed.

"It may have 3600 ATK, but Papillon Dragon can only be destroyed by Dragon-type Synchro Monsters." Droite reminded him. "We should at least be safe for this turn."

"I activate one of Lucifer's effect!" Alnia announced. "By detaching an overlay unit, I can take control of an opponent's monster until the end of the turn!"

"Crap!" Kaito cursed.

One of the balls of gold light orbiting Alnia's Egyptian demon entered the eye on his scepter. The eye of the scepter then began to glow with a gold light.

"By the power of the Millennium Rod, I bend Papillon Dragon to my will!" Alnia declared.

Lucifer aimed the rod at Papillon Dragon, causing the dragon's eyes to glow gold. The same eye-like symbol on the rod appeared on the dragon's forehead. Papillon Dragon roared and mindlessly flew over to Alnia's side of the field.

"Taste the fury of your own dragon, bitch!" Alnia told Droite. "Papillon Dragon, attack your master directly! Photon Stream of Desolation!"

Papillon Dragon fired a stream of purple light from her mouth at Droite. Droite screamed upon being hit and was knocked to the ground as her and Kaito's life points dropped to 500.

"Droite!" a worried Kaito called out.

"You've got your own problems, photon boy." Alnia told him. "Lucifer, attack Tenjo directly! Millennium Ruin!"

The demon pharaoh took aim at Kaito with the Millennium Rod. Kaito froze and looked as a ball of black energy cracking with gold electricity formed at the end of the demon's scepter. As the sphere grew in size, Lucifer fired it down at Kaito. Kaito was struck and cried out as his and Droite's life points fell to zero. When the smoke cleared, Kaito and Droite were both on the ground out gold. Both Lucifer and Papillon Dragon vanished and the sky returned to normal. A panicked Orbital 7 drove over to the side of his fallen master and his girlfriend.

"Well that was pitiful." Alnia declared before turning to look back at Mitaka. "And you actually had problems with these losers?"

Before Mitaka could respond, Vector and Alit arrived with Gilag, Mizael and Cathy. All five immediately stopped upon seeing Kaito and Droite on the ground and Alnia standing nearby with Mitaka.

"What the hell?" a stunned Alit asked. "What just happened?"

"Well, well. If it isn't some of Don Thousand's former pawns." Alnia observed. "I'm afraid you missed the show."

"Did Tenjo just lose to one of these two?" Mizael asked.

"If any of you want to take me on next, I'm game." Alnia told them. "But you won't do any better than your two friends here."

Before anyone could respond, the sphere field that Yuma and Kotori had been in since before the start of the duel began to fade and drop to the ground. In seconds the field disappeared completely to reveal a fully clothed Yuma and Kotori. Yuma was once again wearing the Emperor's Key around his neck. Kaito groaned, causing Yuma and Kotori to notice both him and Droite on the ground. Yuma quickly kneeled down to see if Kaito was okay while Kotori checked on Droite.

"Kaito! Are you okay?" Yuma asked.

"…Yuma…. Be careful." Kaito told him. "The leader if the Death Queens… is very powerful."

"So, the great Yuma Tsukumo finally makes an appearance." Alnia spoke. "I should've just taken care of you myself from the beginning."

Yuma stood up and glared at Alnia and Mitaka. "You Death Queens have gone too far! Not only have you gone after and hurt my friends, you tried to hurt Kotori and get into my pants! There's no way I'm letting that go!"

"If you've got a problem, you're welcome to take it up with me." Alnia dared. "I'll be happy to pound you into the ground like I did with your two friends."

Suddenly a ball of blue light shot out of the gem of the Emperor's Key. The light grew and pulled in the Number cards from Kotori, Kaito, Vector and Alit's decks. Within a few moments, the light faded to reveal Astral. The energy being was no longer pulsing red and was glaring at Alnia and Mitaka with his arms crossed.

"Yuma will not be facing you alone, Death Queens!" Astral declared. "You have proven yourselves to be too great a threat to Yuma's world and mine! Therefore I have come to help deal with you myself!"

"Astral." Yuma spoke as a smile came to his face.

"Aw dammit!" Alnia cursed. "Great, Mitaka! Looks like this half-baked scheme of yours has only served to piss off Astral World's envoy!"

"I know you have been trying to steal the Numeron Code from me through Yuma." Astral told Alnia. "For what purpose do you want the code? Are you trying to revive Don Thousand?"

At this, Alnia burst out laughing. "Are you kidding? I wouldn't waste an ounce of spit to bring back that loser! The one we speak to revive is a demon god of shadows who can plunge this entire world into eternal darkness!"

"Astral and I won't let that happen!" Yuma declared. "So if you want a fight, bring it on!"

"…Not just yet, I think." Alnia decided. "I know a little something about what the two of you are capable of when you join forces. I'm still pretty confident I can beat you two to a pulp, but I need a better look at what you can do first. So let's do this. There's a big tournament happening in this city here in a few days, right?"

"She's right. The Millennium Tournament." Alit recalled. "It's this big event that's held every few years in honor of the great Yugi Muto, and this time it's being held in Heartland."

"…Yes, a tournament in honor of that wretched pharaoh." Alnia spoke as her hands balled into fists at her sides. "We'll use that tournament as the stage for our final battle. Sound good?"

"Sounds okay to me, I guess." Yuma agreed.

"Very well." Astral agreed. "Yuma and I shall face you in this tournament."

"We'll see you there then." Alnia replied. "Let's go, Mitaka."

Mitaka nodded, and suddenly a large vortex in the form of a red galaxy appeared in the end behind them. The two Barian women turned into balls of red energy and flew into the portal. As soon as they were though, the vortex vanished. Once the Death Queens were gone, Astral let out a pained groan and flickered for just a moment.

"Astral, are you okay?" Yuma asked.

"I am fine Yuma." Astral assured him. "I am still a bit weak from the curse Mitaka placed on us."

"Wait, she cursed you too?" a surprised Yuma asked.

"There is a connection between you and I since the two of us were once one being ages ago." Astral explained. "The Death Queens were trying to exploit that connection. Had Kotori been unable to act, I'm certain that both you and I would have perished. As it is though, I merely need some time to rest. I will be fine tomorrow."

"Okay then." Yuma nodded.

Astral closed his eyes and turned into light that flowed into the Emperor's Key. Meanwhile Kaito and Droite had managed to get back to their feet.

"Kaito, are you doing okay?" Yuma asked.

"I think so." Kaito replied. "Droite?"

"I'm fine." Droite assured him.

"You should get yourself checked out just in case." Kaito told her.

"Did the two of you duel that Death Queen who was just here with Mitaka?" Kotori asked.

"Yeah. Her name's Alnia." Kaito confirmed. "She's the leader of the Death Queens and very powerful. I'm not sure if you and Astral can handle her."

"Don't worry! Astral and I will be ready!" Yuma confidently declared.

Meanwhile, Cathy walked over to Kotori and pulled her away from the others. "Alit and Vector weren't very specific on what was going on her on the way over. Just what did you have to do to save Yuma?"

"Uh… well…" Kotori spoke as her face turned bright red. "I'd rather not say."

Cathy looked closely at Kotori for a few moments before her lips curved into a smirk. "I get it. Well, I don't know how that sort of thing would save Yuma's life. But it's about time the two of you got laid."

With that, Cathy walked back over Mizael. Kotori stood frozen on the spot, wondering if it would be just as easy for others to tell if she and Yuma had finally consummated their relationship.

* * *

It was the beginning of another day at Heartland Academy as seventeen-year-old Ryoga "Shark" Kamishiro walked into the school. A tired scowl was on the water duelist's face. His trip to Neo Domino had not been very relaxing, and his plane had arrived late that morning, barely giving him enough time to get home and change into his uniform. As Shark turned a corner, he saw Alit leaning against the wall.

"Hi Nasch." Alit greeted. "How'd meeting Hikari's parents go?"

"Could've gone worse, I guess." Shark answered. "They both seemed to like me. Of course one afternoon Hikari's dad gave Dubre and me a tour of the power plant where he works. One of the things he showed us was this machine that shot this huge beam of light into some tubes that go under water. It's supposed to supply Satellite Island with power or something. Anyway, Dr. Fudo made it pretty clear to the two of us that someone could throw a dead body into that beam and have it vaporized without it leaving a trace."

"…Oh." Alit replied, realizing what had been implied on the tour Shark had been on. "He did seem to like you though, right?"

"I think so." Shark answered. "So, anything happen here while I was out of town?"

"The Death Queens tried to make another move on Yuma." Alit replied. "I'll explain more to you over lunch. The good thing though is Astral is back to help out."

"Astral's back?" Shark responded, suddenly perking up a little. "Maybe I'll have quick word with him before class. Where's Yuma?"

"He's in that hall closet over there." Alit answered as he pointed to a nearby door.

Shark shrugged and went over to the door. He figured Yuma was in the closet getting something one of the teachers asked him for.

Meanwhile, Alit's eyes widened as he recalled the reason why Yuma had gone into the closet. "Oh crap! Nasch, wait!"

What Shark saw next when he opened the closet door completely shocked him. Yuma was in the closet all right, and he had Kotori pinned up against the wall. Kotori had her legs wrapped tightly around Yuma's waist and her shirt was pulled up just enough to show her bare breasts. Yuma was busy pounding his hips into the green-haired girl as she moaned and dug her fingers into his back.

In moments Yuma and Kotori hit their climax at the same moment. As they came down, they smiled and pressed their foreheads against each other. After a moment though they both turned their heads and saw Shark standing in the doorway of the closet. His jaw was hanging open and his left eye was twitching. Yuma and Kotori completely froze and their faces turned bright red.

"Uh… sorry." Shark finally managed to say after a moment. "I'll… catch up with you guys later." He then closed the door, but then opened it back up after thinking of something else he wanted to say. "For the record, this makes us even for that time you guys more or less walked in on me and Hikari."

Shark then tightly shut the door. He looked and saw that Alit was long gone. There was still a little time before classes were due to start, so Shark decided to go find Alit and pay him back for what just happened.

* * *

Mitaka nervously entered the throne room of the tomb-like pocket dimension she and the other Death Queens used as a base. Alnia was sitting atop her throne with her eyes closed. Mitaka looked and saw Anitak silently standing in the chamber.

"Hi Ani." Mitaka greeted as she walked over. "So, are you feeling better after your little incident with Alit?"

"I'm fine." Anitak answered. "Before you ask, Alnia seems to be in a better mood than yesterday."

"Good. I don't think I could take another thrashing from her." Mitaka replied.

"You just might get one if you're not careful, Mitaka." Alnia spoke, causing the two of them to flinch. Alnia opened her eyes and stood from her throne. "Well, you two have done a bang-up job trying to get us the damn Numeron Code. Anitak, your stupid plan did nothing, and Mitaka, you only made things a little worse by ticking off the envoy and having him return to Earth."

"Yeah. Again, sorry 'bout that." Mitaka responded.

Alnia sighed. "On the other hand, having Tsukumo and the envoy in the same place may make things easier for us in the long run. But it's clear we need to stop screwing around! I'm taking the lead on this. You two better do exactly as I say and not screw up."

"We will not fail you this time, Alnia." Anitak assured her.

"I know I certainly won't." Mitaka replied.

"Good. Then we've got a tournament to get ready for." Alnia told them. "And when we win, the human world will finally get what's coming to it."

HEARTLAND WITCH-END

* * *

Well, we've now come to the end of the second story in this little trilogy. It actually ended a little bit differently than I had originally planned. Before I was going to have Anitak return and have a tag duel between the teams of Kaito and Droite and Anitak and Mitaka, but I felt like that duel would've been a little too big. So instead I decided to use this last chapter to preview the main villain of the next story, Alnia. By the way, I think I forgot to mention before that the names of the Death Queens are derived from the names of the stars that make up Orion's Belt, sort of like how the names of the Barian Emperors were based on the stars of the Big Dipper. Anyway, I hope everyone reading enjoyed this little story of mine. This story was probably one of my weirder ideas, but I really enjoyed working for it. While this story may be over though, the battle with Barian Death Queens is far from done.

Stay tuned for the next installment of the Devil Numbers Trilogy: **The Millennium Tournament**

Until then, please review and let me know what you think.


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